Can you smile? Just once?
by Asakami
Summary: A collection of Lightning/Vanille friendship-based one-shots AKA cutscenes that should have been included in the game.
1. Smile

_**Disclaimer: If I owned FF13, all of these cutscenes would have been in the game.**_

* * *

Smile

"It's best if we rest here for the night." The strawberry-blonde said simply, "We don't know what's out there in the forest at this time."

Vanille nodded her head and looked around for a comfortable spot, pointless as it seemed. The dark trees surrounded them endlessly, and the grass below was wet and swampy which really wasn't a good place to sleep on.

"Hey," The woman's voice broke her thoughts, "Over here." She gestured at the girl, and naturally, Vanille nodded once more before making her way towards her. Lightning was at least ten metres ahead – how did she get this far so quickly, anyway? Pointing at the ground in front of them as the redhead approached, Lightning muttered, "Let's rest here."

Simple as her tone may be, Vanille could tell that the woman was actually more relieved compared to earlier, when they crash-landed into the trees. Sazh's careless piloting skills lead to their ship colliding with a Pulse monster, and though Fang's Bahamut caught the crew in time, its crazy flying speed made her lose her grip… and this woman's recklessness and natural heroic instincts led them to be together right now.

"Thanks for saving me earlier," She said, breaking the silence.

"This is the fifth time you've said it." Lightning replied, almost as if she was annoyed, "And I already told you, I only did it out of reflex. I couldn't let someone fall a hundred feet from the air and not save them." She sat herself down and leaned her back against a tree that fell over. Some sort of battle must have happened here, otherwise the ground would not be so sandy and lifeless. Even the trees in the small radius were dead.

Vanille fixed her skirt and knelt down a few steps beside the woman. Had that person been somebody else in the group, they wouldn't be so far apart. This woman… this woman just gave off an incredibly scary, strict, and cold vibe; it was like she would eat anyone up if they got too close to her. The girl got this strange feeling because out of the whole group, she was the most afraid of her. Snow was a happy-go-lucky and cheery kind of guy, so he was easy to get along with. Sazh was even better because he was always a nice-father figure to her. In fact, the two practically have a father-daughter relationship. Fang was a childhood friend… and something much more, and then there was Hope. He was hard to approach at first, but he was just a boy who had trouble socializing with older people which, of course, wasn't a problem for Vanille. She acted immature most of the time, and recently, the two 'children' have bonded quite well. Lightning on the other hand…

"I'm going to get some firewood," She stood up and detached her gunblade pouch from her belt, throwing it carelessly beside Vanille. "Stay here and get some rest."

Naturally, the girl responded, "I'll do it! You rest!"

If there was anything else in the world that Lightning hated, it was a high-pitched, loud, and girly voice. She tried to hold back her anger, "No, really, you sit here. I'll go get the firewood."

"But your wounds—"

"I'm fine," The woman said sternly, her eyes getting sharper, "Just stay here, I'll do it."

Vanille narrowed her eyebrows. She was not _fine_. No way in hell was she _fine_. The ex-soldier just fell a hundred feet from the air while protecting the Oerba girl, shielding her with her body and arms from the trees' sharp branches. The cuts and bruises were visible on her arms and legs; there were even a few scratches on her cheeks. Moreover, Lightning was the one who fell first to the ground, and Vanille could definitely remember that she heard a yelp from her at the impact.

Sighing, she stood up and made her way to the taller woman. She placed a hand on her shoulder, and almost immediately, Lightning let out a wince. Vanille could swear that she was biting onto her tongue so hard that a few veins were popping in her neck. Giggling, she started, "See? I'll go, you rest!"

At last, Lightning gave in and nodded her head hesitantly. Watching the pigtailed girl walk into the forest, she slowly knelt down on the ground… only to realize that her knees were too bruised to be rested on. Shifting her posture a bit to find a more comfortable resting position, she leaned her back against the fallen tree. Perhaps she should tend to her wounds, now that she had nothing to do? Lightning began to take off the shoulder pad and her scratched armband and glove off. She sighed at the sight; it didn't look as bad when she had all those accessories on, and because it didn't hurt much. Looking at these wounds, it came to her how much pain she was in all this time. She took a white handkerchief from her crimson pouch and started to wipe off the dry blood – performing Cure on herself proved to be useless as she was dead tired.

A few cuts were present on her forearm, along with some bruises. Some deeper cuts were scattered all over her arm. The damage she received from the fall could be compared to the damage she received from the Fal'Cie Barthandelus. She looked at her thighs and groaned. More bruises and dried cuts could be seen. Perhaps there were more injuries underneath her clothes too – she could definitely feel some sort of pain in her chest. Though, the forest wasn't really a good place where she would strip naked. The most she could do right now was clean off the dirt to prevent any infection.

"Oh my gosh! You're hurt really badly!"

Lightning widened her eyes. Since when was she right in front of her! How could she have not noticed her presence!

"Sorry, I must have startled you…" Vanille said, "But your arm… oh my gosh! Your thighs! Aah! I didn't notice earlier, let me see your wounds!" She knelt in front of her and grabbed her left arm gently, "Would it be too late to preform Cure—"

"I'm fine!" She drew her arm back to herself forcefully, clutching it close to her chest and then looking away, "Just… start the fire…"

The girl tilted her head slightly. It was confusing how she had to act this way when they have nobody else to depend on but each other right now. But the Oerba girl was persistent; she had to tend to those wounds no matter what. "But, onee-san—"

"Just 'Light' is alright. And I already told you, I am _fine_."

"You are not fine!" She exclaimed. Her voice echoed in the woods, startling some creatures, and some rustling in the leaves could be heard around them. Covering her mouth quickly, "Whoops!" She started to whisper, "I must have been too loud…" And she giggled.

The woman rolled her eyes.

"Please, just show me. Or I'm going to annoy you for the whole night!"

She grunted and shoved her arm towards Vanille whilst looking away.

The redhead giggled again. Observing those cuts and bruises carefully, it was given that any Cure spells would be ineffective as these wounds weren't fresh enough. Vanille resolved to use the bandages in her pouch. As she wrapped the thin white fabric around the woman's arm, she realized that it really was better to clean them out first, but how were they going to find water around this forest? The nearest river could be miles away, and who knows what kind of bacteria would be in that liquid? Knowing Gran Pulse, the girl knew that everything here was living, everything was alive, and everything was _dangerous_. "Okay, done!" She clapped her hands together to indicate that she was happy with her work.

Lightning turned her head back to look at her arm. She frowned, "… What is this?"

Apparently, Vanille tied one of the bandage wrappings up in a nice and big butterfly above her wrist. "Isn't it nice? It suits you so well!"

"Wouldn't it be better if you saved the bandages up for better use?" She reached for the end, attempting to untie the embarrassing butterfly-knot that resembled a Christmas present wrapping.

"Oh, don't untie it! It's so cute!"

"Damn it, get rid of this thing!"

Vanille couldn't stop laughing. Out of all the things in the world, a mere butterfly-knot was bothering Sergeant Farron. She didn't even react as much when they had to face the monsters here and there, nor did she show much concern when she learned that her life was bound by an absurd Focus… The younger girl stopped her laugher and looked at the woman. It was then she took the time to understand and get a better feel of that unpleasant vibe. Actually, it wasn't all that unpleasant – just that her femininity carried this aura of elegance – an aura so strong it intimidated her, it made her admire her.

"Stop it! Just… ugh—"

"Onee-san," Vanille started suddenly.

The woman grunted, "I said 'Light' is fine,"

Ignoring her, she continued, "If you wanted to get rid of this, you could have done so easily without effort."

"…"

"So… the truth is… you actually like it!" The girl smiled tenderly.

And the woman didn't want to admit it, but she looked kind of cute. Keeping her face straight, "No," She managed to speak in her usual calm and collected tone, "I don't," And she tore the bandages off, leaving her arm exposed once again to the air. "Now get some sleep. We're going to have to walk a lot tomorrow."

It was even more amazing how she could keep her anger in like this. Vanille was expecting at least a slap or a punch in the face, much like the way she treated Snow back then at the Lowerworld Vertigo… so, she was able to conclude that Lightning had a soft side towards girls. Did this mean she treated Serah really kindly? The Oerba girl kept her eyes on the woman.

_She treats Hope kindly… so maybe she's just nicer to younger people._

Vanille grinned. "Ne, ne, onee-san! You know you're actually _really _pretty, right?" She watched as the woman snapped her eyes open; they flashed in a dangerous azure colour, and then she gave the girl a held-in-surprised look. Vanille went on, "And I know you're actually _really _nice! You know how I can tell?"

A shade of pink gradually spread across her cheeks – a colour similar to her unique hair, "… Did Hope say something…?"

The girl burst into laughter. "Hahaha! I was only bluffing! Nobody told me anything, I just bluffed! Haha, onee-san, you're so cute!" Her laughter wasn't dying. In fact, it was getting louder.

Lightning pursed her lips with annoyance.

"But…" She wiped the tears away from her eyes, "… He did tell me that you smiled at him – only for a second though." The redhead scooted closer towards the ex-soldier, "Ne, ne, can you smile right now? I'd love to see! I've never seen you smile. Actually, I don't think anyone has! Come on, show me, show me!"

At that moment, she really wanted to punch her. She clenched onto her fists so hard that her nails dug into her palm. The blood soaked through the bandage, and she was sure that her wounds were reopening because of this god damn annoying-ass girl. Lightning wanted to explode… she wanted to punch her, kick her, so_ badly_… but something in her held her down, urging her to be more gentle… especially to this girl. It didn't make sense; why – why was she holding back? Why _did_ she have to hold back? It wasn't because she was too much of an innocent, kind, gentle little girl to get beaten up, it wasn't like they're related, it wasn't even because she was acting like Serah—

_Serah…_

No, what was she thinking? Vanille was nothing like Serah. Her little sister was quiet, polite, mysterious—

"I wonder where the others are right now." The girl said to herself as she looked above the sky. Lightning stared into her emerald eyes. They were nothing like Serah's crystal-blue orbs, but for some reason, there was a hint of similarity that she could not define.

—_Mysterious?_

Come to think of it, this girl gave little of her own background to anyone – she didn't even know this girl. Perhaps she talked about herself with Sazh during their time of separation, but Lightning only heard a bit about her from Fang. From what she knew, Vanille was a supportive and helpful friend; this was quite apparent, as she could see how desperately she fought for the group. This girl was always trying to brighten up that unbearable thick air, and she would even remain as cheerful as possible during battles. Still, as loud as she was, as happy and naïve she acted on the outside, Lightning couldn't help it but to sense something melancholic or perhaps even grim from inside the girl.

"Vanille,"

Her head snapped back down onto ground level, and she turned to the woman. She blinked. "Eh…?" Did the cold, ruthless, female-warrior just called her by name? If so, then it was the first time – _ever_. Not only that, but she was staring straight at her in the eyes. Lightning's orbs suddenly became… softer compared to earlier. She was still as calm as always, but somehow, she was more normal, more natural… more humane right now. Perhaps… this was the first sign from her of showing a kinder side?

"Why are you always so optimistic?"

"W-what…?" The girl was still lost in confusion; even her voice softened – it wasn't like usual. But more importantly, she did not really catch her question, for she was too surprised from hearing that rare, gentle voice.

"Never mind." She looked down, her bangs covered her brilliant azure eyes, bringing back the gloominess into her face.

"W-wait! Can you ask that again, please?" Vanille crawled towards the admired leader like a child who had yet to learn how to walk. She got close enough so that their faces were a few inches apart. Though inappropriate, she was doing this entirely for fun, and of course, it was only an excuse for her to look at those radiant eyes orbs again. "Come on, ask me again!"

Lightning sighed, "Why are you always so happy? No… _how_ do you maintain this… mood all the time?"

The girl blinked again. "Hmm…" Pretending to be thinking, she threw herself beside the woman. The single hint of concern she presented has given Vanille the courage to come closer with her. Their bare arms touching, the feeling of tranquility and security surged through Vanille's skin. It was as if being beside this person would bring her the ultimate safety. Being with her made her feel protected – it was a feeling that exceeded that of Fang's presence. It was hard to understand, however, as she and Fang have been the best of friends since they were children, and they were as close as siblings. Yet, here she was, beside 'Lightning' Farron, feeling more protected, closer, and more related.

"Are you done thinking yet?" Her strong, feminine voice startled her. Vanille looked up and realized that the woman was still waiting for an answer.

She gasped softly, and couldn't help it but to look away even though she wanted to stare into her eyes much longer. "Well…" She could feel her cheeks heating up, "That's just how I am!"

The woman raised a brow. "Hn," A cold smirk followed instantly afterwards, "Even knowing that you are going to die whether or not you complete your Focus, you act as if there isn't a care in the world."

"Focus this, Focus that! Focus this, Focus that!" Adding a random melody, she continued to chant the words a few more times, and then she turned silent.

Hope, Snow, Sazh, Fang, Vanille. If Lightning were to rank the person she was closest with to the most distant one, it would be like that. Evidently, she cared most for the boy because throughout the journey with him, he unconsciously shined the way, encouraging her to pursue this rescue mission for her little sister. She didn't want to admit it, but she could see a bit of herself in the boy, and both of them know that they had a sister-brother bond. Snow… though doubtful at first because he was all about talks, gradually Lightning learned that the brute was actually not as bad as he first seemed. Yes, he was quite thick and radical at times, but she could tell that he truly loved her sister, and could definitely take care of her. Sazh and Fang were both wonderful companions to work with. Bother being good fighters, the woman considered them as good friends, though obviously, she wouldn't tell them directly because it just did not suit her image. Vanille…

"La la la la—"

Lightning glanced over at her. She was looking up at the night sky again, singing a lullaby-like song. Her high-pitched and annoying voice wasn't so bad when she sang quietly, the woman decided.

Though Vanille was one of the people who she has travelled with since the beginning of all this l'Cie nonsense, she was the most distant person. Oddly enough, she didn't _feel_ distant—

"Well, I finally thought of an answer…" The girl interrupted her thoughts.

"What is it?"

She looked over at the fighter all of a sudden, emerald met azure orbs. "Hehe… before I answer…"

"…"

"Can I lean on your shoulder? I'm getting kind of tired…" Vanille then gave her the biggest smile ever.

If this were an anime, Lightning would be sweat-dropping. "W-whatever." She gave her an annoyed look and turned away.

"Waaaai—!" She wrapped her arm around Lightning's resting her head on her soft shoulder snugly. "Onee-san is so warm!"

It has been a long time since she'd come this close to another person _physically _before. "Ugh, if you're cold then don't wear so less. Now can you tell me?"

Vanille's grip on her arm loosened, even her head felt lighter on her shoulder. "Onee-san, when you think about the future, do you get scared?"

"Huh?" _What's this all of a sudden?_

"We are l'Cie. The future ahead of us is merely nothing but sadness. We know that there is nothing for us,"

The immature and naïve girl disappeared – her child-like voice did not suit her current serious tone.

Her voice was getting quieter. "That's why I only think of the happy memories. I embrace them, I treasure them… I use them to cover up the bad feelings. Lying to myself is how I get through everything, really…"

Vanille closed her eyes. Nothing could be heard in the air but the sparking campfire and the wild's calls in the trees. This peaceful and nostalgic sound of Gran Pulse reminded her so much of her home, the Oerba Village. She could remember that she used to lean on her friends' shoulders like this too, chatting the night away beside the campfire while looking at the stars and the beautiful yet told to be dangerous Cocoon. Though of course, the Oerba villagers were much more talkative, unlike the silent Lightning.

"Cry,"

"… Eh?" Hearing something unusual, she opened her eyes.

"Cry."

Lifting her head from Lightning's shoulder, she asked again, "What…?"

"Let it out," The woman said simply, "Be it you fears, sorrows, pains, let it all out."

"…"

The strawberry-blonde turned her body towards the redhead. "Everyone has his or her own ways to hide problems. In my case, I simply ignore, avoid, and show no emotion."

"Onee-san…"

Her voice has once again softened.

"_Onee-chan…"_

Then, another voice echoed, resonated in the woman's mind.

"_Onee-chan!"_

Calling to her repeatedly…

"_Onee-chan, why did you change your name?"_

Lightning gently placed a hand on the Oerba girl's head as images of Serah flashed across her eyes, "In your case, you'd laugh it away, you'd hide all the negativity with your positive attitude."

"I…"

Her hand slid down to the girl's shoulder. The warm touch once again put her at ease, reminding the girl of her closest friends from the village. "Though, I can tell you through experience that avoiding or hiding does not grant happiness. Rather, it builds up the pain."

Vanille was speechless.

"So let it out,"

She lowered her head, leaning into her chest, and then she closed her eyes. She started to whisper, "Ne, onee-san…"

"What is it?"

The girl wrapped her arms around Lightning's waist, "I'm quite jealous of Serah, really."

"…"

"I want an onee-san like you too."

That definitely stunned her. Thinking back, nobody, including Serah, had hugged her like this since she changed her name. The need to become an adult faster and the urge to become like a guardian, to protect her, to take her parents' places… it only severed the sisters' relationship. The woman sighed. Then, she did something even she wasn't so sure why she did.

"… Onee-san…?" Her face still buried in Lightning's chest, she was surprised when the fighter returned her embrace, holding her gently in her arms. A hand stroked her from the scalp to her neck. It felt… nice. Warm, comforting, close; she felt very much like a family member.

"… Do you feel better now?" Even though Vanille did not cry or let out anything, Lightning could tell that the weight she carried in her heart had become a bit lighter. She didn't know how she would know, but she could just feel it.

"Mmm…" The girl nodded her head, mumbling something in her chest. Then she popped her head up, smiling back at the woman, "Yep, I feel much better now." Vanille looked down at her bruised and cut arms, "Oh my gosh!" She backed off immediately, "I-I didn't remember that you were hurt – and… and I was leaning on you! I'm so heavy – aah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Panicking, she crawled back towards her to check on her wounds, seeing if they reopened at all.

"I'm fine," She said simply. "You were leaning on my uninjured side anyway. You know, the side I didn't fall on."

"But it's still cut. How is it _uninjured_?"

Really, it didn't matter which side she fell on; her whole body was aching all this time since the fall. She simply did not want the girl to get overly-concerned—

"Onee-san, were you holding in the pain so that… so that I could lean on you?"

Her heart almost skipped a beat. "I already told you it's not hurting. And don't be so paranoid, why the hell would I hold in pain just so you can lean on me? I'd rather have you rest five metres away from me, so that the air can be more peaceful, and I can also get some sleep." But she still managed to deliver her words as serious and calm as they always sounded.

"Heh… really now?" Vanille grinned, "Then, onee-san, you can lean on my shoulder!"

"What!"

"I said," Vanille sat close to Lightning again, and then pulled her body to hers', the process making the woman's head fall harshly onto her bony shoulder, "Lean on my shoulder!"

"Ugh…!" She grunted a sound of pain.

"See, you're hurting!"

"That's because you pulled me down!" She drew back but the girl held her down.

"Onee-san!" Vanille smiled at her again, even more sweetly and innocently than any of the times she's seen.

"… What?"

Her grin became wider, "Did you realize that you answered when I called 'onee-san'?"

"…" Lightning blushed a crimson colour so deep that it was possible to see the shade even in such little light. Surely, she did not realize it. Thinking back, all this time she had been treating the Oerba girl the same way she treated Serah – perhaps even better. Was this sympathy? No, she wasn't doing it out of pity. The woman looked at the girl with emotionless eyes.

"Onee-san, why did you change your name?"

She twitched.

"_Onee-chan, why did you change your name?"_

… and decided to ignore the question.

"Hmm…?" Maybe she did not want to answer, Vanille figured. "Okay then, onee-san, what's your real name? It can't _really_ be 'Lightning', right?"

She closed her eyes. "It's something like that." It wasn't entirely a lie.

"Whaaat! Come on! If you don't tell me, I'm just going to assume that your real name literally translates into 'Lightning'!" Vanille said playfully.

Then, the slightest hint of a smile appeared on the woman's face.

Vanille's eyes widened. "… Onee-san…"

"…?"

"Y-you're…"

"Oh shit." Lightning quickly wiped the smile off her face, looked away, and tried her hardest to put that gloomy face back on.

"Onee-san, you were – you were smiling! Let me see it again!" Vanille got on her knees and leaned her face towards her.

But she struggled to push the girl off, "No! I wasn't smiling, go away!"

"I'm serious, you're getting cuter and cuter by the second – this is so fun!" Eventually the girls lost balance and fell to the ground, with Vanille on top of Lightning.

"Ow!" The woman cried out loud; she was still in pain after all. "Get off, damn it! Get off!"

"Nnnnno!" The girl giggled and buried her face in Lightning's neck.

This was really stupid. This was not fun at all. All this girly-talk, girly-actions, girly-playing, sister-like bonding—

_Sister…?_

"Vanille,"

She stopped moving and pushed herself up, her body still on top of the woman's. Their blazing eyes met again, and their gaze interlocked for the longest time.

"Why are you doing this?"

The girl blinked cluelessly. "Hmm? Why? Isn't this what sisters do? I figured that you missed doing this with Serah, so…"

"W-what kind of sisters would do these things! It's so wrong!"

Vanille tilted her head curiously, "Really? … Well, I'm pretty sure you did something like this with her when you were young, right?"

Lightning's eyes softened. Though vague, she could remember that she had, indeed, had fun like this with her sister long before their parents passed away. Come to think of it, she hasn't had a proper conversation with Serah _since _the death of their parents. As years went by, the sisters just drifted farther and farther apart… until finally, she lost her to Snow… and then to the Fal'Cie…

"Onee-san?" The Oerba girl felt weird for those eyes have been staring at her lifelessly for a long time now.

Then, the woman suddenly started, "When this is all over, and say, we get to live on, what are you going to do?"

Surprised, the girl answered her with a question, "Onee-san, are you going to miss me?"

She grunted.

Vanille giggled. "Hehe, I don't know. Should I stay here, or should I live up there?" She pointed at the glowing bronze planet. "But… if I were to live there, I think I would just camp around the Sunleth Waterscape, because it resembles most of Gran Pulse, which reminds me of my home – oh, what am I talking about? Why don't I just stay here? This _is_ my home after all!"

Lightning widened her eyes.

The action only made Vanille smile again. "Seems like onee-san _will _miss me!" She lied back down on Lightning's body, "Don't worry, after we save Serah, you won't even remember me!"

It was weird how she could say that so happily. Wouldn't she be saddened by the fact that she wasn't going to see her friends again? "So… you're really going to stay here, on Pulse?"

"Does onee-san not want me to?" Once again, the playful tone.

"…"

"You don't have to answer me now." Vanille laughed as she felt some sort of hesitation from her. Obviously, the woman was too shy to admit it, but she really did possess emotions. Most likely, she had been cold for far so long that she'd forgotten how to show her warm side. "Goodnight, onee-san. See you tomorrow." She tucked herself snugly on Lightning's 'uninjured' shoulder, her sweet face buried in her neck.

Yes, it hurt. Her entire body still hurt – she was indeed lying earlier to calm the girl down. But…

Vanille breathed softly. She was already sound asleep. The girl must have been keeping herself awake all this time just to talk to her.

"Were you pitying me?" Lightning whispered.

The girl's body rose and dropped softly, in sync with her breathing sounds.

… but it didn't really matter. Seeing such a serene face of kindness and cheerfulness – even in her sleep is enough to make this night one of the easiest nights to pass.

"It's not because you look like Serah," The woman said and wrapped the arm the girl was resting on around her shoulder. Her fingers moved up to curl the girl's orange locks between her fingers. Then, she turned her body over, resting her other arm over Vanille, and stared at that peaceful face, "… that I let you call me 'onee-san' continuously."

Vanille shivered in her sleep, her body shaking lightly in Lightning's arms.

_What a child. _

The strawberry-blonde smiled at her cute reaction to the cold. "But maybe… maybe it's because your innocence fascinates me."

* * *

_**This fic didn't make much sense and had no huge point, but I just thought Lightning and Vanille needed more scenes together since they literally had none in the game. Seriously, they just talked like, what? Once? And that was indirectly too. **_

_**Also, I had to replay the game to find out the names of the locations haha, and also to point out some crucial plot-related subjects.**_  
_**Anyway, North America/Europe/Australia release today! Hope you guys have fun! And ENJOY! IT IS A GOOD GAME! :)**_

_**EDIT: Yeah. So I decided to make more of the two. Rather than posting up new stories, I'm just going to add more chapters to save space (and for your convenience, so that you do not have to look for my LightningxVanille scattered fics)**__._


	2. Flowers

Flowers

The pale lilac sky, deep navy-blue waters, white snow, orangey-yellow sunset… the green garden…

The strawberry-blonde, on the rooftop garden of the Oerba Village, overlooked the beautiful scenery of Gran Pulse. Ever since she was little, she was taught by her parents, by her teachers, by everyone that Pulse was 'like hell'. Even when she joined the military, the captain told the soldiers that those who lived on the vast lands are 'enemies'.

_Enemies?_

But ever since she arrived here, all those thoughts, all of those facts that were implanted into her brain began to fade away. Really, how could somebody as kind as Fang (though sometimes a tad bit rude), and as sweet and innocent as Vanille could be considered as _enemies_? To hell with those futuristic highways and buildings; this natural and serene place was what people – _humans _– needed. All the artificial flowers, manmade forests, everything was fake, nothing was real, real was _nothing_ up there. The woman gazed up at the bronze planet.

She sighed. Yes, fine, it looked quite nice from down here, with that cracked, glowing jade-colour in the centre…

Then she looked back down at the Oerba flowers. Something so weak, so delicate, so fragile could be just as beautiful as that floating land which held and supported so many living creatures. The fighter bent down and touched the flower's pink pedals with her fingertips, gently brushing them at the ends. A surprisingly large amount of pink pollen was on the unusual Pulse flower, which got her fingertips tainted with the soft powder.

"_That's pretty."_ The not-so-feminine fighter thought. It made no sense; why was she so entertained by a foreign plant? She began to trace the outlines of the pedals with her index finger, as if drawing a flower in the air.

"Hmm…? So onee-san likes flowers…" A familiar, soft, childish, innocent, and _sweet_ voice suddenly rushed into her eardrums.

"Holy sh—" Immediately backing off, the woman lost balance and fell to the ground. The younger Oerba girl was right beside her, bent down, and she once again did not notice until she spoke.

The redhead giggled. "Have you gotten used to my 'sudden appearances' yet?" She asked, smiling. Then, she reached a hand out to help the ex-soldier up.

Lightning grunted and shoved the girl's hand away. "I can get up myself." She stood up and fixed her suit a bit, brushing the dirt off the fabric.

Vanille smiled. It was true that this woman had a big attitude, but she could put up with it. After all, Lightning was almost like Fang… except she was far quieter, and much more reserved. Breaking the silence, she began, "Ne, onee-san, what are you doing up here?"

Really, she was just up here to get some fresh air; just that she got slightly distracted by the beautiful scenery – and those flowers. But Lightning thought to herself that if she told the girl that she was looking at flowers… something _so _feminine… "It's too loud downstairs," She said in a smooth voice.

"Hmm…? You rather be left alone?"

"Quite frankly, yes." She replied simply without looking at her.

Vanille tilted her head to the side a bit, and clasped her hands at her back. "Can I stay here with you?" She made her voice slightly higher, to make herself sound more childish than she already did.

"… What?"

"No, no, I'm not going to bother you. I just want to look at the flowers too," She smiled, "You see, I planted some of these… just that… I didn't know that they would still be living on their own, in this crazy temperature." Vanille crossed her arms and started to rub her skinny biceps. "… Come to think of it, it's cold here, isn't it?"

"No joke." The woman looked away into the mountains – where they just came from, the Taejin Tower. Before arriving at the Oerba Village, the group was told by Vanille and Fang that their home was filled with life, colours, and green lands. But at the top of the tower, when they looked down into the direction of the village, she could remember the girl said something like—

"This is a colourless world."

Lightning turned around to look at the girl. Yes, she said that. Was she reading her thoughts?

"Really, it wasn't like this before…" Vanille continued, "It used to be warm and fuzzy, filled with laughing people… and children! Everybody had fun… and then… then Cocoon…" She paused. "… Never mind."

Not surprisingly, the girl was able to put a smile back onto her face. The ex-soldier sighed, her eyes still glued on the redhead. "But it's still beautiful here."

Her smile immediately got brighter; Lightning Farron just talked back! "Isn't it? I think so too, onee-san!"

A gentle breeze blew at them. The strawberry-blonde could hear the girl yelp at the cold wind.

"Brr!" Vanille shivered and shut her eyes, crossing her arms tightly, "It's so cold!"

Lightning sighed again and shook her head. "Don't wear so less. I thought I told you that already." She detached her red cape from her Guardian Corps shoulder pad, "here," and handed it to the girl.

Vanille blinked. "Onee-san…?"

"Put it on," She rolled her eyes.

"I… b-but…"

"Ugh," She grunted and walked closer to the girl. Lightning looped the cape around Vanille's neck twice, and tied it up loosely in a nice scarf-knot in front of her chest. "There. it isn't much, but it should be warmer than what you're wearing."

The Oerba girl was speechless, overjoyed – something like that. She brought her hands to the crimson fabric and started to feel its softness. "It's so warm…" She whispered to herself and then looked up to grin at the woman, "Thank you, onee-san!"

Lightning nodded her head once and turned to the sunset. Vanille followed the woman's eyes; whatever she was looking at… the girl didn't care, she just wanted to stare into those blazing orbs.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt for you to smile more often…" The girl suddenly said. Lightning turned her head back towards Vanille. Azure met emerald; they remained silent for a while, and all the girl could do was take the time to observe the woman's physical features. The golden sunset shone at one side of her face, her pink bangs created shadows on her cheeks as they swayed with the gentle wind. Even so, just because there was not enough light, Vanille did not stop herself from looking at the beautiful fighter. The leader of the group was tall and muscular, yet she was able to maintain a proportional and feminine body. If this woman wasn't a soldier, she could easily become a star, a spokesperson for some well-known brand, a model… just something that would allow her to show-off her strong body. Then, Vanille moved her eyes back to meet the woman's. Somehow… the blueness just seemed like they were screaming for attention, and although Lightning wasn't crying or anything—

"Can you stop looking at me now?" She suddenly said, her face becoming more serious.

Startled, the girl blushed and turned away. Yes, she just realized that she had been looking creepily at the woman for a while now. If she were in Lightning's position, she would be quite freaked out.

_Even so… those blue eyes…_

"And I thought Pulse was like hell," The woman said out of the blue, "When it's even more hellish up there."

Surprised, Vanille followed Lightning's eyes once again and looked up at Cocoon. There was something different in her tone of voice. It was almost as if…

"Sometimes, I just want to give up,"

Something hit her. Vanille didn't know what it was, but something hit her heart – _stabbed _her heart softly, and it hurt. She clenched a fist onto the fighter's crimson cape, pulling it closer to her chest. Cold, silent, calm, ruthless… whatever; what this woman displayed for the group was merely a shell that hid what she truly was: _Human_, compassion, fragility. "I get the same feeling," The girl added to her comment.

Lightning sighed. "Really, now?" They stood for a moment, enjoying the beautiful scenery whilst listening to the gentle waves that were washing up the shores of the village in a rhythmic pattern. Then, without turning to the girl, she headed for the stairs. "Come on, let's go down now."

"O-onee-san!" Vanille grabbed her hand before she could move any farther, and out of some kind of sudden urge, she started, "Can you… can you stay here with me? … Just for a bit?"

Confused, Lightning shrugged her shoulders. As she made walked closer to Vanille, she started to wonder why she would want to be with someone as quiet and cold as herself.

_Why not ask Fang instead?_

"Thank you," The redhead smiled tenderly. But then, she started to think to herself: why did she ask this woman to stay? It wasn't like the two were particularly close… nor did they have much to talk about… The sudden urge from earlier, it just came out of nowhere, by surprise, it was uncalled for. Vanille looked back at the woman, who was, once again, gazing at the sunset.

_It's those eyes…_

It was those eyes that sparkle, that glitter, that shine with the light. Those radiant orbs that attract so much attention, the black abyss in the centre that held so much… _so much_… It just wasn't possible to keep her eyes off the woman. They shined… they shined ever-so-brightly, but they did not shine of inspiration or encouragement. Rather, they shined of sadness; they _screamed_ sadness. Vanille bent down and picked a flower. She made her way back to Lightning, "Onee-san," She called and shoved the red flower in front of the woman's face, "This is what you call a 'rose' on Cocoon, right?"

She nodded her head.

"Well, I think you're exactly like it,"

Lightning raised a brow. "Huh…?"

Vanille continued, "It's such a beautiful, elegant, and strong flower… but for self-protection, it grows thorns that can hurt the biggest of brutes, the wildest of animals. Even somebody as careful as I can get hurt If I try to pick at it, and the thorns hurt like crazy!" She paused and looked up at the fighter, "Isn't that just like you?"

"…"

She prolonged her smile. "I mean, onee-san, I think you're absolutely beautiful. Yet, at the same time, I – everybody is afraid of you… so, so, _so_ much. Sometimes, I can't even bring myself to talk to you, or simply get close to you because it's like you have thorns. If anyone gets too close, it's like they're going to get hurt or something." There. She said it. It was rushed, but she got it out of her mind. Vanille let out a breath and waited for the woman's reaction; she waited for her to say something hurtful to counter those _oh-so-meaningful_ words.

… But really, there wasn't anything Lightning could say to reply. What Vanille just said… was one of the most awkward things she has heard since becoming a l'Cie. No, actually, it was the weirdest thing she has heard in her entire life. To get compared to a flower was… quite strange.

"Onee-san, were you always like this?" The smile disappeared from Vanille's innocent face. Even the merciless female fighter wasn't used to this saddened expression of hers. "Can you tell me?" She asked.

As always, the woman remained motionless, and, of course, _emotionless._

Vanille sighed again. "Onee-san is only willing to tell Hope about herself…" She gave her a sly smile, "… That's hinting something!"

Lightning widened her eyes. "No!" She blurted out loud, unable to control herself.

The Oerba girl giggled and stepped back playfully to avoid a punch or whatever the woman was going to throw at her.

But, unexpectedly, she just stood there in a confused, trouble stance. "Why… you ask?" She started, "… I don't even know."

Realizing that her tone has changed, the redhead walked back towards the woman. She was expecting a glare at least, but Lightning just stayed straight, looking at the ground, unwilling to bring her head up high proudly. Vanille looked once more at those sad eyes. Then, she began to understand why that sudden gush of feeling surged through her body earlier when she stopped her from going downstairs. It was all very simple – she just did not want to leave this crumbling person alone. Vanille reached up, her warm fingertips touched the woman's cheeks, and then her palm got closer, finally cupping her face. She looked at the admired woman, who was almost a head taller, and smiled her brightest. "Don't cry,"

"…" Lightning blinked.

Vanille tiptoed and wrapped her arms around her leader's neck; she pulled her down so that she could hide in her bony shoulder. Stroking her soft pink hair gently, Vanille repeated, "Don't cry,"

The ex-soldier was stunned by her words. Her mind therefore spoke aloud, "I am not."

The girl prolonged her smile, even though they couldn't see each other in their current position. "But your eyes are telling me that you are,"

Lightning shut those _hated _eyes tightly.

Vanille continued, despite being ignored. "I know how it feels. To have nobody to talk to, to have nobody to lean on when you're down… I know it's painful."

"I…" She gritted her teeth, "… am not…"

She could hear the woman's voice shaking. "I know how it feels to put on a fake personality, to put on a mask that you do not want…"

"Stop it…" The weakness in her own voice… she couldn't stand it, she wanted to get rid of it. Yet, she had no idea how.

"I think I know why I want you to stay with me," Vanille said, "I get the feeling that… it is necessary to be with you. I didn't want to leave you alone."

The woman stood there, allowing this girl to hug her. She wanted to pull away, she wanted to _so _badly… but this pleasant and soothing feeling wasn't letting her body move. She liked it. It was so warm and nostalgic – she hasn't felt this way since… actually, it wasn't possible to recall the last time she felt this comfortable, this _safe_. Moreover, she has never, ever, _ever_ been embraced like this before… Well, maybe once or twice by her parents, but that was years ago, and her memories of them are vague. She could barely remember their faces.

"There, there…" Vanille patted the back of the woman's head lightly, "Don't worry, onee-san, nobody can see."

By 'see', she probably meant letting others see her get hugged – _willingly _– by the girl. Lightning Farron could not allow that. Never, ever. It was a sign of weakness. She could never tolerate something like that.

"Do you… feel better now?" A deep breath could be heard from the woman. Her body felt heavier, and the girl soon had to kneel down because Lightning has literally turned into a ragdoll. Both on their knees, Vanille exclaimed, "O-onee-san!"

But Lightning didn't pass out or anything. Just that… "I… I'm so tired…"

"…"

"I'm so tired of this."

Vanille listened. She started to stroke the back of her head again.

"This pretence, this mask… as you have said, I am so tired of _all _of this."

Like the time it surprised her when they got separated from the gang because of the fall, it surprised her again – the woman was wrapping her arms around the girl's waist.

"I can't recall the last time I felt genuinely happy…"

She could feel the woman moving lower, leaning her forehead on her shoulder for comfort.

"… I can't recall the last time _she _felt genuinely happy…"

How ironic. Just a few days ago, the woman told her to 'let it out', and now, _she _was the one who was 'letting it out'. She couldn't blame her, however; to take on the role of a mother right after her parents passed away, to support Serah with nothing but herself… this woman must have been acting strong in front of her sister all this time without shedding a tear, without showing any signs of vulnerability.

"Onee-san, you did your best."

Lightning did not reply.

"If you talked to Serah, she would tell you that for sure." She pulled away momentarily to look into those saddened azure eyes, "Because… well, I don't know how to explain it, but if I were your little sister, and saw you work so hard… I would tell you – but that's only if you don't hide yourself so much…"

"You…"

"… Yet you can't help it. you tell yourself that you _have_ to keep up a strong figure, a dependable character, so that Serah does not have to worry, so that she can feel safe around you,"

"… Va—"

"But, onee-san, you are too selfless. By putting all your concentration on protecting Serah, you ended… making yourself so vulnerable…"

"Vanille,"

The girl could feel the woman's arms around her waist tightening, but not to the extent where it hurt, and out of nowhere—

"… Y-you're only an _idiot_!" Lightning suddenly exclaimed, her eyes gradually burned up with rage, "… but why! _How _can you see through me…?"

The woman leaned back onto her shoulder, and she could feel the red scarf she was wearing slowly getting damp. Light droplets of water streamed down her shoulder. This invincible, cold-hearted, emotionless fighter was crying soundlessly.

"Just… who exactly are you…?" Lightning choked.

The girl sighed. She took a deep breath, "I am Oerba Dia Vanille. A Pulsian, a resident of the Oerba Village… your friend."

Moving her head back up, Vanille could finally see Lightning's tear crystal orbs.

The atmosphere in the air should be changed, it was getting way too gloomy for everyone's own good. Vanille began, in her usual, bright, sunshine-cheery voice, "… but I would rather you view me as your little sister!"

What was surprising was that her attempt to lighten up the mood actually worked. Lightning almost felt like chuckling to her little comment. The heavy weight inside her heart has somehow become lighter – just a bit, though. But that was more than enough; she could finally breathe more smoothly, she could open her eyes wide, she could stand up straight… she could _move_…

The girl lowered her head a bit upon noticing that slight change in expression on Lightning's face. Their eye level parallel, she started, "Do you feel better?"

She blushed. Too close – _way_ too close. She immediately pulled her arms away from the girl's waist, turning her head to the side. "I-it's not like you were much help."

The redhead blinked. She had to let the woman's voice repeat itself in her mind. Then, she burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Onee-san is a tsundere!"

She spun around, her expression angered again, "Tsunde what!"

"Never mind, never mind! Oh my gosh! Hahaha…!" Her arms still around the fighter, she leaned in and gave Lightning a proper hug. Still, she has yet to cease her laughter.

"Stop laughing. Let go. Get off." A chain-combo-order from the group's leader, but Vanille paid little attention to it. She did, however, finally let go. Giving her one last smile, she stood up.

"Upsie-daisy! Here, give me your hands!" She opened her arms to the woman below her, who was still kneeling down. She was expecting Lightning to shove her hands away, and would say something like '_I can get up myself'_, but this time—

"… Thanks," She said quietly, reaching a hand up to her. It was almost a whisper – _almost_, but the Oerba girl definitely heard it.

Upon pulling her up, Vanille was still in a state of shock from that surprising response.

Lightning looked at the patch of flowers behind the girl. "I'm like a rose, huh?" She suddenly said.

Confused, she turned around, and caught those red flowers in her eyes. She turned back around at her leader and smiled, "Yep. You are just like them."

"Hn," She walked past the girl, to the red flowers. "If I am a rose, then you are a dandelion."

"… Hmm?" Really, the Pulsian girl had no idea what a dandelion was.

"Some consider it as a pest-flower, since they are weed."

Vanille's jaws dropped. "W-what! Onee-san, you're so mean!"

"But they're stronger than roses – well, at least they're able to grow anywhere, and under any condition," She paused, "Also… just because they're weeds and are annoying to most people, I think they're quite pretty."

The girl blinked.

"Like, I wouldn't go through the effort of pulling them out of the garden. They're not that much of a bother."

Was she complimenting the girl? Was this her way of thanking Vanille for cheering her up? Was she saying that the girl's obnoxious behaviour wasn't all that bad? More and more of these puzzling thoughts were starting to build up in the redhead's mind. She was starting to feel dizzy, but at the same time, she was so happy, she could not express this feeling through words. Even her face stayed straight.

"Hello…?"

The fighter's voice sounded like a soft chime; it brought her back to her senses. Vanille shook her head a bit and replied, "Well, I wouldn't mind being a dandelion in onee-san's eyes. But I think I'm more like… erm… vanilla!"

Lightning frowned. "… That's a spice, not a flower."

She smiled. "I know!" Walking over to the woman, she grabbed her hand, "I know," Her emerald eyes sparkled as she blinked. "Let's go down; I think the others are worried by now!"

Before she could answer, the girl started to drag her tired body towards the staircase. Normally, she hated physical contact like this (especially hugs, holdings hands, or any other feminine actions), but…

"_But I think I'm more like vanilla!"_

The Oerba girl's comment echoed in her head. Why, of course she was like vanilla. Why the hell not? She was sweet, pretty, and was able to cheer people up, just like the taste of vanilla. And yeah, strangely, Vanille _is_ vanilla.

Finally reaching the ground floor, the girls reunited with the rest of the group in the room.

"Where did you guys go?" Snow asked, with his hand at the back of his head, "And for so long too. This place doesn't even have much to explore!"

"Are you being rude here?" The raven-hair woman scolded, "Apologize!"

Everybody laughed along as Snow apologized to Fang in a fearful manner. Lightning rolled her eyes and remained emotionless as always.

"Vanille-san, you look nice with that scarf," Hope complimented.

The girl narrowed her eyelids, and glared at him suspiciously, "What are you saying…?"

"Huh?"

"If you think you can take onee-san's scarf away from me with sweet talk, then you can continue dreaming!"

"W-wait, what! I – I didn't even think of—"

"Blehhhh!" She stuck out her tongue at the boy, teasing him. The group shook their heads at their immaturity while Hope stood there, speechless.

"So, what were you girls doing up there?" Sazh asked as he watched the baby chocobo hover above his palms. The bird squeaked, urging them for an answer.

"Oh… y'know, just—"

"—looking at flowers." The woman behind her finished sentence. Vanille spun around; Lightning must have interrupted because she did not want her to tell the others that she was—

"Heh? The flowers are growing on their own, eh? That's pretty amazing." Fang crossed her arms and said proudly. "Well, now, let's start moving. The Rust-Eaten Bridge seems like a nice goal to reach. There's nowhere else to go from here anyway." And she walked out of the small cabin. Slowly, the boys left one by one, following behind Fang closely.

Alone again, Lightning coughed. "… What happened up there…"

The girl turned around, her pigtails swayed with her movement. "Don't worry!"

"…"

"What happened up there is _our_ secret."

Sighing, she let herself loose. The hand holding onto Vanille's for some reason tightened, however. "Thank you."

The girl grinned. "If you want to thank me, then smile!"

The woman grunted. "Stop joking around. Let's go." And it was Lightning's turn to drag Vanille this time.

"What! O-onee-san, come on!" She whined.

Walking in front of the girl, Lightning and Vanille's hands remained clasped together. The woman smiled to herself; these girly-interactions weren't so bad after all. Holding onto her hand like this… it made her feel like a little girl again. She wasn't planning to let go – well, at least not until they have to face more monsters.

* * *

**_FF13 seriously needed more LightningxVanille cutscenes… _**

**_On a side note, as you may have noticed, I played the Japanese version, so Vanille's name is actually pronounced "Va-ni-la"_, _hence the pun in this chapter. Also, this was set on that rooftop garden where you can find mission 55 (just thought it would help). _**

**_See you soon!_**


	3. Apparition

Apparition 

"_Vanille," _A muffled voice called to the girl.

"… _Fang?"_

"_No."_

"… _Sazh?"_

"_No."_

"… _Hope…?"_

"_No."_

"… _Snow…?"_

"_No."_

"… _Who are you?"_

"_Who are you missing? Who did you not call?"_

"_I… who… Fang…" _The girl stuttered with her words.

"_Vanille,"_

"…"

"_You said Fang already."_

"… _I don't… who did I not call…?"_

"_Open your eyes." _A sudden change of subject.

"_I can't… it hurts so much…"_

"_M—si—r Éc— o—… healing you right now." _Some of the words pronounced by the voice were strangely muted.

"_What… who…? I didn't hear—"_

"… _healing you…" _The voice repeated.

"_Fang? Is it Fang…?"_

"_No, silly. Your condition right now is too severe for Fang to heal."_

"_Please… who are you…?" _Frustration was building up in her heart. This unclear and mysterious voice… who could it possibly be?

"_P— take care— m— si— … please." _The voice was gradually echoing away, getting farther and farther, but ironically, the sound wasn't muffled any longer. She could tell that it was a young woman's voice. Somebody who was gentle, kind, innocent…

"_Wait… wait…!" _Vanille wanted to chase it. she wanted to reach for that… person, but all she could see right now was plain darkness.

"… _You're the only one."_ A ghostly flash of crystal-clear blueness – it was a silhouette of a girl's figure in blue.

"_No, please, wait—"_

"_Open your eyes…"_

"_Wait—"_

"_Open your eyes—"_

Open your eyes.

"Open your eyes! Vanille!" Fang's voice.

"Vanille!" Snow and Sazh.

"Vanille-san!" Hope.

"Guys…" The girl called weakly. "What exactly… happened…?" She finally opened her eyes. Everybody was hovering over her, and she had her head rested on her best friend's thighs.

Fang brushed the girl's orangey bangs away from her tired eyes. Smiling, she started, "You took a blow from a King Behemoth. It was pretty bad."

"Yeah, your blood and guts and all were pouring out!" Snow said it in an enthusiastic manner. Clearly, he was trying to scare the girl.

"We tried all types of Cure spells, but because your guts were… well, _actually_ pouring out, it was really hard to heal you. Plus, you technically weren't dead, so Raise and Phoenix Downs were useless too…" Hope explained.

"Then… how did I…?"

"Nee-san did something," Snow cut in, "I thought she was only good at thunder spells and close combat. I never knew she was that good of a healer."

"Yeah," The boy nodded his head, "Vanille-san, she did something that even you and I – as healers – cannot…" He scratched his cheek with a finger, "Gee, I kind of wish I knew that spell. It looked pretty awesome…"

"The prettiest lights ever, kid," Sazh added, "The spell itself was prettier than the show we saw at Nautilus."

Everybody nodded their heads.

Fang sighed. "Well, I'm just glad that you're fine now," She smiled down at the girl.

Vanille smiled back. She pushed herself up, but the pain has yet to disappear completely; she brought a hand to her abdomen and rubbed her skin gently. There was no scar, scratch, or wound, but it still hurt. "Owie…" She moaned.

"Lie back down," Her friend ordered, "Light said that even though there are no signs of injury anymore, your insides need to… I don't know, what was it? Regenerate?"

Vanille got up anyway. On her knees, she looked at herself. She was covered in blood; her skirt, sash, and even the pink fabric of the half-tank top she wore were tainted in redness. She sighed at the disgusting sight, but realized that she had more important things to worry about. "Come to think of it, where is onee-san?"

"Oh, right, where did she go?" Everyone started to look around them.

"The Archylte Steppe is so big… she can be anywhere…" Snow said.

"Um…" The boy tried to get everyone's attention. "After Vanille-san regained consciousness, Light-san just walked off…"

The group gave a natural reaction; it was a Lightning-thing to do to just wander off anyway.

"… Strange, but she was smiling when you opened your eyes – whoa—!"

"Smiling? SMILING!" The girl instantly flashed in front of the boy's eyes, grabbing his shoulders and sticking her face close to his'. "Onee-san was smiling and you saw! _You_ saw!"

"Y-yes! Vanille-san… you're killing me! Vanille-sa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-aaaan—!" The Oerba girl was shaking the boy, making his voice tremble.

"Oh my gosh, aaaargh!" She finally released him, but moved her hands up to cover her face and shook her head in agony.

"V-Vanille, calm down!" Sazh cried, "What's the big deal about a smile?"

The girl pouted and turned to the man, "Have you ever seen onee-san smile? No, right? It's like a once in a lifetime thing!" She turned back to glare at the boy, "I can't believe you saw it twice, Hope! I only saw it for a millionth of a second!"

"O-okay…"

"Which way did she go?" Vanille stood up and asked.

"T-that way…" He pointed into the tunnel, "Where we just came from… the Vallis Media."

She nodded, "I'm going to look for her!" Vanille said with determination. "Don't follow me! Especially YOU, Hope!" And she trotted towards her destination.

The boy gasped.

"Vanille, your wounds—"

Her voice faded away as she entered the tunnel, so she had to yell at the top of her lungs, "It doesn't actually hurt anymore, so don't worry!"

* * *

She wasn't exactly lying, but she could feel funny movements inside her. As told by Fang, it could be the regeneration of her internal organs, but it didn't matter; she just wanted to concentrate on looking for Lightning. Jumping on rocks, stepping on mud, pushing through vines… she even took on a few Flans on her own with ease – only, it made her outfit even filthier than it already was.

"Ew… I'm going to have to wash up…" Vanille said to herself as she tried hard to brush the dirt and Flan substances off herself. She continued to walk forward, hoping to meet up with the woman as soon as possible so that she could thank her properly. Reaching the base camp, Vanille wasn't surprised that Lightning was not present. Why, of course the soldier wouldn't sit in an area that was so open and vulnerable for enemy ambush. But… where else could she be? Perhaps the small waterfall in the middle of the valley would be a good place to be. Vanille hopped her way across the bumpy path, heading the opposite direction in which the water was flowing at.

The sounds of the water getting louder, the girl quickened her pace. Why so desperate? Why theh rush? It was still early in the afternoon – the sun was shining right above her head. she really had no idea, but her mind and feet were telling her to hurry up.

"Onee-san!" She called, "Onee-san, where are you?" Vanille walked closer to the small waterfall. She watched as the white waters rush down with gravity, into the deep pond, which broke into a small stream of river – the stream she had been following. The rocks under the water were visible due to the pool's clearness. The urge to jump into the water hit her so hard… she just wanted to take a nice bath here because it was so secluded and… well, most likely the boys wouldn't come this far into the valley. "Ah!" She snapped her head back up to look around for Lightning, "First thing's first. Onee-san, where are you? Onee-sa…n?" Seeing a figure behind the white waterfall, Vanille approached it.

Oh, it was none other than the group's leader, Lightning Farron, sitting down, leaning against the rocky walls… sleeping.

Vanille walked closer, "Aww…" She softened her footsteps as much as possible. From what the girl knew, the woman was always the last one to fall asleep, so nobody ever got a chance to see how she was like when she had her eyes closed. Now, she realized that such a fierce fighter could possess such a sweet and innocent face. "I wish you looked like this more often." Vanille crouched down in front of her. She reached up to stroke the woman's cheeks with the back of her fingers, feeling its egg-like smoothness.

Lightning took a small gasp, her head moved slightly; she could feel something touching her, but it wasn't irritating enough to make her open her eyes.

The girl giggled. She brought her other hand up to the woman's face, pointed both index fingers out, and reached for the corners of the sleeping fighter's lips. Gently, she pushed upwards, forcing a smile on Lightning. Vanille chortled, and then bit onto her lips. The woman looked ridiculously funny with a fake smile. She pulled back, and continued to look at the sleeper. If Lightning woke up right now, the girl would most likely receive a kick in the face, but she took her chances. She made herself comfortable by sitting down, and listened as the woman breathed softly in her sleep.

"It's almost like you're smiling in your sleep, onee-san…" Vanille whispered. It's not because she forced that smile on her, but it was because Lightning had a natural serene and gentle sleeping face. "I think I should stay up late from now on, so that I can look at this more often!" She giggled to herself and reached up to poke the woman lightly on the cheek with a finger. "Hehe… I'm so dead if you woke up now… poke poke poke!"

"You're right. You're pretty dead."

She gasped.

Lightning revealed her piercing azure eyes.

Stunned, "Gah—" Vanille's jaws hung open, her eyes widened so much they looked as if they were about to fall out. She was in shock, she knew she was dead; her leader did not even have to reassure her of that.

But all Lightning did was smirk. She moved a hand up to the girl's forehead. Pointing two fingers out, she pushed gently.

"Aaah!" Vanille lost balance and fell backwards.

_Splash_

The pond wasn't deep or anything, but Vanille still had trouble resurfacing because of the small waterfall. She swam under the pressure and popped her head back up, gasping for air. "Onee-san!" She pouted.

"You needed a bath anyway. You stink of blood and plants, and your clothes are filthy." The woman said simply as she remained in her comfortable posture.

"Yeah, but at least let me take off my stuff!" She complained as she treaded water effortlessly.

Lightning rolled her eyes, "What, do you want me to personally take them off and then push you into the water?"

Vanille blinked and then looked to the corner of her eyes, thinking for a moment. "Hm. Oh right, good point…"

The woman frowned and walked around the waterfall. "The water's shallower on this side," She sat down on a boulder, giving Vanille a set point to swim to.

"Haaaai—" She dove into the water – thank god for the warm weather on Gran Pulse, otherwise she wouldn't be swimming like this. The clear water allowed Lightning to see the girl swimming towards her. Then, she resurfaced in front of the ex-soldier. "Onee-san, can you help me?" The girl stood up, the water reached her chest.

"With what?"

She smiled and started to take off her necklaces, bracelets, other accessories, boots, and her weapon, placing them on the rocks. Then, she reached up to untie the straps of her tank top. "I'm going to be naked."

_Yeah, no shit._

"… What the fuck."

Vanille grinned. "So… can you watch out for me? I don't want the boys or… or Fang to see me…"

Lightning raised a brow. She understood why the girl didn't want the men to see, but… even Fang? Everybody knew that the two were practically like—

"She makes fun of me… she says that for a grownup, I have a body of a ten-year old…"

Lightning turned away. She secretly wanted to laugh.

And it was quite obvious that she did. Vanille frowned. "Hey! Stop it!" She whined.

"W-what? Just wash up already." The ex-soldier crossed her arms and put on her serious face.

Vanille glared at her briefly, and finally took off the pink fabric. She turned around, her back facing Lightning. Holding onto the tank top, she moved down to take off her fur-sash and then her bright orange skirt.

The woman wasn't trying to 'check her out' or anything, but she had nothing else to do. More importantly, her curiosity was telling her to see if the girl really had a 'ten-year-old's body'. Based on what she could see right now, the Oerba girl had a nice waist, a curvy bottom, slim long legs, but…

_Turn around, turn around, damn it!_

Not that the leader was perverted or anything, but she couldn't see the essential part of the lady's body. Even though it was useless, she eyed Vanille's back angrily, as if she were shooting out something that could make the girl turn around. Unfortunately, such an imaginary force did not exist; the girl remained in her current position, still washing the blood and stains off her clothing with her back facing her. Lightning could see the redness spreading in the water around the girl. Yes, she was bleeding quite a lot, but it didn't occur to her that _this _much blood was lost and was soaked into her outfit. How the hell did she cast that miraculous healing spell anyway?

"Onee-san,"

The woman was almost startled by her voice – she was paying far too much attention to the girl's body. "What?"

Vanille turned around, and out of reflex, Lightning immediately spun her head away.

_Damn it._ She couldn't look. Her body won't let her… her _morals _wouldn't allow her.

The girl placed her washed clothes beside her other belongings, and swam back to her original bathing area, turning her back once again to the woman. "Can you help me dry them up, please?"

"…" Lightning couldn't find an excuse to say no, as much as she wanted to. She gathered up some branches and built a simple clothes-hanger. Placing Vanille's wet clothes over it, she gathered some more branches underneath and made a small fire.

Vanille smiled as she watched the woman did the 'laundry'. Her _so-called_ onee-san really was acting like an _actual_ onee-san. "You know…" The girl caught the ex-soldier's attention, "… earlier, when I passed out, I heard something."

Lightning wasn't expecting the girl to suddenly start a conversation so randomly. "Huh?"

"It was a girl's voice," Vanille explained, "A kind and gentle voice… it was really familiar, but I…" She paused to look at her leader, who was, surprisingly, somewhat absorbed by her words. "Onee-san, she was telling me something. The voice was telling me to take care of something, but I couldn't understa—"

"Hey! Where are you girls?"

The two gasped and looked towards the direction of the sound.

A deep voice – a _man's _voice – it was Snow. He was coming at quite a speed, for his voice was getting louder and louder. "Nee-san!"

"Oh my gosh!" Vanille yelped and crossed her arms. She had nowhere to run, and there was no place to hide. Jumping out of the water right now would leave her even more exposed. "G-go away!"

Lightning reacted quickly. She stood up and positioned herself in a fighting-stance out of reflex. "Get back, Snow!" She ordered as the tall man's figure approached them.

Hearing his team mates' voices all frightened and agitated, he began to worry. "Are you okay? I'm coming now!"

"No, you idiot! Don't come any closer!" Lightning growled.

"Is there a monster? I can help you!" Snow exclaimed. He was about twenty metres away now.

"No! Go away, go away, go away!" Vanille screamed repeatedly.

"Vanille, nee-san, don't worry! I'm—"

"WHO THE HELL IS YOUR _NEE-SAN_! STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"S-sorry! But I'm coming! Hold on!"

"Son of a bitch!" Looking around for something to throw, the woman grabbed a rock as large as her palm. She aimed and threw it, hitting the man's toes accurately.

"Ow! Nee-san, if you're trying to protect me—" Yet the stupid brute continued to walk forward.

"NO, I AM NOT TRYING TO PROTECT YOU! GET THE FUCK OUT!" Lightning screamed something so out of character that Snow decided to sprint.

Having nothing else to throw, the woman looked at the helpless and naked girl, and then back at the stupid man who wasn't stopping. She had no other option – _no, maybe she did, but it just didn't come to her _– Lightning jumped into the water and held her arms around the girl, hiding her body with her own.

Snow finally approached. "Nee-san! Nee-san! Nee… san…?" He stopped.

"Now do you understand why I didn't want you to come any closer!"

"… Ohhh…" Seeing his to-be sister-in-law hugging the Oerba girl, Snow finally understood… or at least, in his own way. "I see. So… nee-san is… right, right. Sorry 'bout that. I'll leave you two alone." He turned around, as nonchalantly as possible, and started to walk away.

"Oh my god…" Clearly, the man had interpreted the situation in the wrong way. Lightning yelled, "You dumbass! This is not what you—"

"No, no, don't worry, nee-san. I won't tell Fang about this—ack!" Something just hit his head, hard. He looked down at the object – it was Lightning's gunblade. "A-are you crazy! This could have killed me!" He turned to complain.

"And it would have been much better if it did! Look, you idiot!" Lightning shifted her position a bit, so that the man could see just about enough of Vanille's naked skin.

"Onee-san…! Please don't move!" Vanille cried. She held on tightly to the woman, locking her, making it difficult for her to move.

Only… it made Snow misunderstand even more. "Yes… nee-san, I can see that you're fond of naked—"

"I AM NOT!"

"It's fine, nee-san. I understand why you're so masculine—"

"IF YOU KEEP THIS STUPIDITY UP, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT MARRYING MY SISTER!"

"—Holy crap! Sorry, sorry, sorry, nee-san! I-I'll leave now and shut up about this!" And he ran off, disappearing into the woods.

His footsteps no longer audible, the woman let out a long sigh. "Man, how think can he possibly be?" She wondered out loud. No longer after, she could feel the girl shaking in her arms. Looking down, Lightning found the redhead laughing.

"S-sorry… onee-san!" Vanille choked, "… But I was just thinking – you really didn't have to jump into the water… making Snow misunderstand…"

"…"

"And…" She swallowed down the last bit of laughter left in her, "Are you really okay with it? You're just going to let him think that you and I are… um…"

"I don't care how others think,"

"Hmm? Really, now?" She grinned. "But that doesn't really matter. Thank you, onee-san, for helping me!"

Lightning simply nodded and released her. Vanille quickly crossed her arms to cover herself, squeezing her breasts together unintentionally. Finally, the woman could see what she wanted to see. Yes, this 'ten-year-old' had boobs. It was funny how a girl this open about everything could be so self-conscious about her body.

"You know, you really shouldn't listen to Fang that much."

Her leader's comment came out of nowhere. "Eh…?"

"I mean, you're really not _that _much of a ten-year-old. I would say that your personality is, but…"

"Onee-san… s-so I'm not flat? I'm not?" Her eyes brightened up.

Feeling a bit awkward, "… No, you're not." Lightning answered as directly as possible.

"Ahh! Yay!" Vanille threw herself at the woman, embracing her.

Thanks to the deepness of the water, the girl was much lighter than she really was. Though being in the water made her realize that she was still fully-clothed. "L-let go." Lightning stammered, "I need to get out of the water."

"Onee-san,"

Vanille totally ignored her order, but she allowed it to slide for now. "What?"

"How did you save me? What exactly did you do…?"

Oh, so the girl was wondering about this all along. Lightning sighed. "I actually don't know. I just… casted a Cura, and your wounds closed up. Then I realized that you were regenerating on your own…"

"But Cura is simply a curing spell. It just recovers wounds and stuff, it doesn't help auto-regenerate or anything. Sazh also said that the spell looked really pretty – I figured a Cura can't possibly look pretty enough for him to notice…"

"Really, I don't know. But it definitely was different from all the Cura's I've casted before."

Vanille pursed her lips. "Did you… use extra power or something?"

"Perhaps," Lightning said simply, "I did feel extremely tired afterwards – no, actually, I literally collapsed… right here." She pointed behind the waterfall.

"Hmm…"

"But, like… can you let go now?" She finally asked in a frustrated tone.

Again, Vanille ignored her. "Onee-san, how – no – what colour was it?"

"… Was what?"

"The Cura you casted on me. All spells have a specific colour, right?"

She paused. Closing her eyes, she tried to recall the situation. "… Definitely… there was blue. A lot of blue. I know my own spells – they're usually bright white and red… rarely blue. So I also found it strange."

Vanille tilted her head curiously. "Blue? Why is it blue again…?"

"Again?"

"Onee-san, earlier, I was talking about hearing something when I passed out, right?"

Lightning nodded.

"At first, I couldn't see a thing. I could only hear the person's voice. She was telling me that… I am 'the only one', and I have to 'take care of her'… but anyway, I couldn't see her at first. Until the very end, I saw a figure of a silhouette… it was of the prettiest blue—"

"I don't get your point." The woman interrupted.

"My point is, onee-san," Despite noticing the impatience in Lightning's voice, Vanille continued to explain calmly, "That you mentioned the spells you cast have specific colours to them – particularly the colours red and white, right? Well, the spells I cast mostly glow in the colours of aqua and turquoise… which gives me the idea that the colours relate greatly to our own Crystarium. I'm correct, am I? Red and white… pink is the colour of _your _Crystarium… and you said that blue isn't your colour, so—"

"So you're saying that this 'blue figure' you saw when you were half-dead… it's another l'Cie with a Cystarium colour of blue?"

Vanille nodded. "Fang is purple, Hope is yellow, Sazh is orange, Snow is… he's…" She gasped, "… Onee-san! Snow – he's blue… could he possibly…?"

"No, that can't be right." She cut her off immediately, "He was standing there like an idiot when you were bleeding your guts out. Plus, his shade of blue is too pale compared to the lights of that spell." Lightning narrowed her brows. This was getting frustrating – they were literally trying to solve a mystery that didn't even make sense based on the colours of the rainbow.

"… Yeah… that's true. The voice I heard was a girl's anyway."

"Girl…?"

"Yeah, I told you! Onee-san, were you even listening before? I said she had a kind and gentle voice—" Vanille paused. She widened her eyes. "Oh my gosh,"

Slowly, the two of them let go of each other. Vanille, again, out of reflex, crossed her arms to cover herself.

"Onee-san… the colour of the crystal Snow always held onto… it's Serah's, and it's that colour!"

"I know."

"Then—"

"I know!"

"…" The girl looked down at the water.

"But… that can't be possible…"

A moment of silence passed by, and Vanille finally decided to make a move. She waded towards the rocks and hoisted herself up. Walking towards her semi-dried clothes, she touched them to check if she could wear them yet, and clearly, if she did so now she'd get sick. The sound of the water dripping from her body was overpowered by the sound of the waterfall. Standing there exposed and her back against Lightning, she clutched her hands against her chest. "My sister… Éclair onee-chan is healing you right now."

That was enough to bring the ex-soldier back to her senses. She snapped her head up and looked at the girl. Her smooth, skinny white body gleamed under a layer of water; she had yet to dry off, and she was already putting her damp clothes. Lightning could see her l'Cie brand on her upper left thigh; the red eye was already visible, and the sight of it strained her heart.

"Please take care of my sister." The girl continued.

"Vanille, what are you…?"

She turned to look at the woman. "You're the only one."

"…"

"Serah told me that when I was unconscious." She reached for clothes and quickly put them on.

"…" Lightning stood there, in the pond, the water reaching a bit above her waist. She clenched her fists in the water. "What nonsense."

"Onee-san…"

She shut her eyes, "Don't call me that!"

"I…"

"You're telling me… you were trapped between the dimension of life and death, and you saw Serah's ghost? You're saying that… she pushed you out of hell and back to this world? And she simply told you to take care of her sister – me? Don't make me laugh," Lightning snickered. She was wondering if she was losing it. "… Out of all the people, _you _saw _my _sister – somebody whom you only met once, somebody you don't even know. How is that even logical!"

She could feel the tension rising. "Nothing in this universe is logical," Vanille said, "It's not logical that the fal'Cie would just… randomly pick people – pick _us _to fulfill their deeds. It's not logical that we have to figure out the Focus on our own, through visions that are all blurry and make no sense. It's not even logical that Cocoon and the Gran Pulse have to fight, that their people have to become enemies…" She swallowed. "Look, I'm just saying that nothing is logical, yet we continue to live. We accept fate, we even put up with our own Foci, but we don't know why we do it… nothing makes sense, onee-san! So why don't you just believe me… believe that Serah was there – believe that she was the one who saved me!"

"Why the hell would she want to do that!" The woman gritted her teeth, brought a fist up and swung downwards, splashing water all over the place.

The girl yelled back, "She wants someone to take care of her sister, is that not enough of a reason!"

_Silence._

Nothing other than the sound of the waterfall could be heard.

The woman did not talk back. Vanille was slightly glad that the heated conversation was finally over, because had it gone any further, she knew that the two would start fighting… physically. And she sure as hell did not want to fight Lightning Farron.

Having so much respect for the fighter, Vanille decided to be the one to apologize. "Onee-san… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for yelling like that. I really have no right to just… talk about Serah like that…"

"It's fine," She muttered, "It doesn't matter."

Vanille knew very well that she meant the opposite. This woman never expressed to others about her true feelings. "I'm sorry…" She repeated, this time much softer. She had the biggest urge to hold Lightning. No, it wasn't because she looked pathetic right now, but it was because her leader needed it. She needed comfort, she needed a friend, a family… just… someone…

"I said it's fine. Serah's not… she's not even here."

The girl sighed. She really couldn't help it if the fighter was so damn negative; it wasn't like she could do much to help her anyway. She wasn't even her _real _little sister. "Onee-san, you should get out of the water before you catch a cold," That was the most Vanille could do at the moment. Tell her something obvious – show some sort of compassion.

Truth to be told, Lightning did not even remember that she was standing in the pond, for she was too caught up with the troubling thoughts of her sister who appeared in Vanille's mind. With ease, she jumped out of the water and walked towards the Oerba girl. Water splashed down her body, soaking the rocks she was standing on. Kneeling down by the small fire, Lightning began to take off her boots, gloves, and black armband.

She stared at the woman's actions. "You're… just going to take those off?" Vanille eyed the drenched turtle neck that was clinging onto Lightning's skin. She felt uncomfortable just by looking at it. "What about your clothes?" She sat beside the taller woman.

Lightning answered without looking at her. "I'm not stripping."

"You're… shy? But I'm not a boy…"

She glared at the girl who instantly squealed and looked down at her feet.

"S-sorry!"

The woman grunted. She sighed and took off the Guardian Corps' white uniform, shoulder pad, red cape, and hung them on the branches she made for Vanille earlier. Right when she was about to zip down her turtleneck, she paused abruptly, almost as if she stepped on a mine. "I… simply don't want to look at the l'Cie brand."

Vanille had nothing to say. Of course, who would want to see their own progress of meeting such an ill fate?

Water still dripping at the ends of her bright hair, Vanille shook her head rapidly, making droplets of water fly all over the place.

"Stop it." Lightning grunted, obviously annoyed by the girl's immature actions.

Vanille stuck out her tongue. The two sat there in silence, both staring into the sparking fire. The sun was still blazing above their heads, but it wasn't really drying their clothes any faster. The girl checked once in a while, touching her sash and Lightning's vest, but they were still damp; wearing them now would only get them sick. Though, it wasn't like the ex-soldier wasn't going to get sick anyway; her brown turtleneck was quite thick, and being as stubborn as she was, Lightning wasn't willing to take it off no matter how many times the girl asked.

"Vanille, Light!" A woman's voice. Fang's voice.

The two looked towards the direction of the sound.

"Fang, over here!" The redhead called back.

"Oh, there you are," The raven-haired woman smirked and walked towards the girls. "Snow came running back a while ago, sweating and all. Don't really know what happened to him, so I'm just coming to see…" She looked at the two who were sitting down, one soaked and one half-dried. "… So what really happened?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Vanille chuckled. She turned to Lightning, "Onee-san just helped me scare away a peeping-tom!"

The strawberry-blonde rolled her eyes.

"Heh, so that's how that guy is." Fang crossed her arms. "C'mon, let's head back. The others found some food and a good place to rest."

Vanille instantly grinned and stood up.

But the ex-soldier remained motionless. "You guys go. I want to stay here for a bit." She said coldly.

The girl turned to her, "… Are you sure?"

The woman responded by leaning back against the rocky wall, shutting her eyes.

Fang exhaled. "It's best if we just leave Light by herself…" She whispered into the redhead's ear, "She looks like she needs to be alone or something."

_No she doesn't. _Vanille bit at the skin inside her mouth. "Mmm…" She nodded and gathered her things. She put on her necklaces and other accessories. Even though her fur sash was still wet, she decided to put it on anyway. Clinging her arm around Fang's the two began to walk away. "Be careful…"

"Come on, let's go." The tallest of the three said as she quickened her pace, literally forcing the girl to walk faster—

The female warrior watched as the two walked further and further. Then, something horrible came to mind: as she was watching them, it was almost as if… almost as if she was seeing Snow dragging off Serah – dragging off her only family – and Serah looked so much happier with her lover.

_No… no…_

No, she was hallucinating. Those two were Fang and Vanille, what the hell was she thinking? Serah was her one and only little sister, Vanille was someone else. "She's not her…" Lightning whispered to herself. Yet every time, when she looked at that Oerba girl, a phantom of her little sister appeared. It was Serah's face, but it was Vanille. It was Serah's voice, but it was Vanille. Everything was so unclear – the very existence of Vanille was like an apparition of Serah.

_But she is Vanille. She is alive, Lightning. _

—And Vanille couldn't help it. She couldn't help it but to look back. She couldn't help it but to look back at the woman… the woman who was sitting there quietly, alone. She was all by herself.

_All by herself_.

The feeling from before came back. Vanille couldn't take it anymore. She wanted to take care of her, she couldn't leave her.

Lightning noticed that she was being stared at. She looked up and turned to the Oerba girls. Indeed, Vanille… the apparition was looking at her. Almost immediately, she shot her head back down, pretending as if she never looked.

Vanille saw. She knew. "Fang, wait."

"What is it?" The woman stopped.

She paused and continued to look at their leader.

_Take care of my sister…_

"Vanille?"

Lightning lifted a brow. She could tell that the two have stopped moving. So… why were they just standing there? Were they having a fight? What was going on? Was Fang being mean to Vanille? If so, she would—

"… Sorry, Fang, but can you go on ahead first?"

_Please take care of my sister…_

"Huh, why?"

Vanille smiled sweetly at her friend. "I want to stay with onee-san for a bit." She tiptoed and leaned into Fang's ear, "She's sick, but won't admit it because she has too much pride to bear."

Fang smiled back. "As kind as you are, Vanille," She nodded and patted the girl's head, feeling her damp hair, "Alright, go on, take care of Light."

"Un!" She watched as her friend trailed off into the woods, and then she skipped happily back towards the fighter.

As she watched the girl approach her, she didn't know why, but she felt happier. A hell lot happier. Though, of course, she kept her emotionless face on. Her eyes closed, she began, "What are you doing, coming back?"

Vanille crouched down and smiled. Even though Lightning wasn't looking at her, she replied, in her usual happy and cheery voice, "Éclair onee-san, I want to stay here with you."

_You're the only one._

Lightning wanted to smile. She really did. She wanted to talk to her, she wanted some time… with her little sister. The time that had been lost, the childhood days they shared, she wanted them back. The days when Serah stayed by her side, depended on her, looked up to her, smiled every day and called her 'onee-chan'… Lightning wanted those moments to come back.

"May I?" Vanille's smile widened into a grin.

Her thoughts interrupted, the ex-soldier finally relaxed. "Hn, do what you want."

"Okay!" The girl tolerated her bitterness. She sat beside her leader, leaning her head on her shoulder. "Onee-san, are you really not going to take that off? You're going to get sick. Like… _really _sick."

Lightning huffed. "If I were to get sick," She gave an unexpected long pause, "Then my little sister would take care of me."

Vanille looked up at the strawberry-blonde and grinned, "As I will! Onee-san!"

* * *

_**I know how the colour thing only applies to their Eidolon, but… whatever, this is fanfiction :/**_

_**Hope you enjoyed! **_


	4. Help me, Oneesan!

_**A/N: …And you guys thought I abandoned this fic *smirk*. This chapter is basically an alternate ending (and an expansion) to the little moment Hope and Vanille shared at Yaschas Massif.**_

**Warning: Hints of Hope/Vanille. Haters gonna hate. **

* * *

Help me, Onee-san!

She was always there for him. Actually… well, technically speaking, she had been there for him _since_ the beginning. "I…!" He clenched his fists tightly – he wanted to thank her, but not, like, normal-thank, he wanted to… oh what the hell; he had no idea what he wanted. No, _no_ – he did.

_Say it! Why can't you just say it, Hope Estheim!_

What did he have to lose? Why couldn't he just say it? "Vanille-san, I…!"

She giggled. "What's the matter, Hope? You look like a tomato!" The redhead said as she walked over to the boy. Bending over to get a better view of him, she went on, in her usual-bubbly voice, "Are you trying to tell me you're sick or something?"

The boy widened his eyes. His heart was drumming madly behind his ribcage, his mouth was getting dry, and sweat was pouring out of his glands in gallons. He was _sure _of it. But how could anyone blame him? This sweet and… comforting scent… _it was only Vanille's…! _Jerking his head away from the girl, he replied, stuttering (obviously), "N-no, I'm fine…" His body went stiff and he tried his best to keep his breath steady.

"What's with your voice? Are you getting woozy from the heat?" Despite the boy's reluctance from maintaining close contact, Vanille stepped closer, "Maybe you're not used to Gran Pulse's temperature…"

As shivers went down his spine, Hope's eyes travelled to stare at those jingling bracelets she wore around her wrists. The soothing chimes echoed like church bells – it was like everything this girl did was exaggerated in his point of view.

"I'm fine!" No, he wasn't fine. He wasanything _but _fine. The moment Vanille's palm touched his forehead, he went out of control; his body moved on its own instinct. What made it worse—"Oh crap…!" —that _instinct _(nervousness) of his made him push the girl with so much force that she fell onto her back. "Oh my god!" He exclaimed.

"Oof…!" Vanille let out a childish whimper. She should have seen this coming. Everyone knew very well that the boy, like a particular_ someone _from the group, really hated being too close, but she didn't know that he would get _this _insecure. After all, she always hugged him, and nothing bad ever came out of it. "Sorry…" She apologized and sat up, rubbing the back of her head gently. As she attempted to stand, a shot of pain went up her leg and she fell back onto her bottom instantly. "Ow ow ow…" Wincing, Vanille held onto her ankle and started to rub it. Clearly, she had sprained it – or, at least, Hope had strained it.

And he, without thinking twice, bent down to help her up. "I'm so sorry! I-I didn't… wasn't… Vanille-san, I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, don't be! I should be the one to apologize!"

"No, Vanille-san, you don't understand! I was just… I was—" He grabbed onto the girl's hand and attempted to pull her up, but instead—

"Aah!" She squealed.

—his legs went numb, and so did his arms. It was like his entire body betrayed him – _made _him fall… fall on top of V-Vanille…

_Gulp._

"Hope, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, I'm—" He cut himself off. What_… what was this softness against his chest…? _

He gathered himself together to open his eyes, and… _and…!_

"And I thought I was clumsy," Vanille laughed, her girly voice almost making his eardrums explode (not because it was annoying, but perhaps because his eardrums were having their own version of a heart attack), "You're not any better!"

Alright, now her voice_ tickled _his ears. Maybe they were bleeding by now? Or even suffering from a stroke? He already reminded, warned, even _screamed _at himself to not look straight into her eyes, but he really couldn't help it. But how could he not? His face was a little bit more than an inch from hers; it was no accident that his grey-green eyes would catch her deep, beautiful, emerald ones. "V-Vanille-san…" The words just poured out on their own.

The girl's eyelids fluttered gingerly. "Hmm?" She smiled at him, waiting for a continuation. Vanille was feeling slightly awkward in her current position, being pinned down and everything, but the boy seemed to be very troubled over something, and she really wanted to help… also, she herself was curious with his sudden, weird, and unnatural behaviour. He was never like this around her.

Hope tried to swallow, but his mouth was completely dry. His hands, each beside the girl's head, supporting his upper body were, miraculously, not tired; he felt that they could stay in this position for life. But… on a more important note, _why wasn't she pushing him off? Was she okay with him on top of her…? D-did she enjoy it or something…? _Questions, questions… so many were surfacing in his head (though he knew they were all arbitrarily nonsensical), but he was definitely getting a positive feeling from this. "Vanille-san, I…" How many times had it been now, calling her name with that annoying stutter? He could feel blood rushing up to his head, and he knew that he was getting redder and redder. Even his vision was blurring up.

"_I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it right now."_

"Hope, is something wrong?"

_Oh man. _Her sweet voice. It drilled into his heart and it sounded – _tasted _– like sugar…! It was so… so… _"I'm going to say it!" _He swallowed hard. This was the moment. He was in the perfect position, he was in control, and on top of that, they were alone, here, lying on a cliff overlooking most of the nature side of Yaschas Massif. Even the setting was romantic; so, if he didn't do it now, when, in the name of Etro, could he ever do it? "Vanille-san,"

"Yes…?"

_Tell her. TELL HER. _

His brain wasn't functioning properly. Yes, he wanted to tell her – he wanted to _say _it, but for some reason, the bigger part of him wanted him to _do _it.

_What are you doing! _

… And so, he bent down. Yes; scrawny, useless, tiny, little Hope was bending down, as if he finally grew some balls. Lower, and lower, and lower… and—

"Eh…?" She finally got it. She finally realized what was wrong. Her eyes widened in slow motion. Was this what you call 'being in shock'? Because she was probably…

—and kissed her forehead lightly. The boy pulled back, slow enough so that his movements wouldn't be too sudden as they already were. He looked at her bright eyes again, waiting for her to give some sort of reaction – any reaction.

But she was stunned. What kind of reaction could she possibly give! H-he just… _kissed _her, and this simple friendship she had had with him for so long, all in an instant, it just turned into something far more complicated…

"Vanille-san…" Hope whispered and moved his gloved hand to cup the girl's cheek – something that even he thought was very daring to do. While he still had the courage, he decided to finish this. "I… like… I like it when you smile…"

She gasped lightly. "E-eh…?" It was like the blood in her body was circulating five times faster when she heard that. "Wha…"

_Oh, great. Nice move. 'Like it when you smile'? What kind of cheap, clichéd video game line did you steal that from?_

He was going to rephrase—"I-I mean…!"

Her hands shot up to her flushed cheeks. She didn't know how to breathe anymore. "I d-didn't know you felt that way…!" Vanille turned her head away from Hope.

"No! I-it's not the smile… I mean! It's not just the smile, it's—"

He stopped. The air turned heavy all of a sudden, and he could feel something tall approaching him from behind. He watched helplessly as a shadow cast itself over him and Vanille. The latter, still pinned down by his weight, also stayed still. But unlike Hope, who couldn't see what that _thing _was, she had a clear view, and because of that, her eyes bulged in horror, yet she couldn't find the strength and will to move her body.

Seeing that horrified expression, Hope could more or less figure out what – no, _who _that person was. Oh, how he wished that 'person' was just a monster; at least that way, he probably wouldn't suffer as much— "H-hi…" Upper body turned slightly, he was not in one bit surprised when he saw that the person was his mentor. As awkward his pose was, he continued, "Um… so, Light-san, what are you doing here?" When he heard himself ask that, he mentally punched himself in the gut. This could probably be classified as one of those 'most embarrassing moments' in his life.

The leader had her usual, straight, expressionless face. She crossed her arms, stared at the boy silently, and then shifted her gaze down to the girl.

… to which Vanille reacted by blushing even more.

Lightning looked back to the boy, her lips arching into a smirk. She had to admit, seeing these two so embarrassed made her want to laugh, _kind of_. "Wow." She mused, arms still crossed. "Really, you two?"

Hope got off her subtly, as his body finally decided to cooperate, and Vanille immediately sat up. Her hands searched desperately for something to fiddle with – to help channel her anxiety away. And so, she began to tug furiously at the grass beneath.

Before the leader could start a lecture or anything, "I-it's…" Hope decided to take responsibility. No, he wasn't trying to act like Snow, being all heroic and mighty in front of the ladies or anything, but this all happened _because _of him. "It's not Vanille-san's fault…"

Lightning lifted a brow, bemused. Vanille, on the other hand, was hyperventilating silently.

"Light-san, it was me – I pushed her down by accident, and then I-I… uh, I—"

"Hope," The ex-soldier called calmly. She gave herself a moment to look at the two, who were now sitting side by side. It almost seemed as though they were kneeling in front of an altar, asking the priest (her) to forgive them for their sins or something. "It's fine." Lightning said before he could finish.

He blinked. "I-I, but I… f-fine…?"

"You didn't do anything… well, inappropriate, I suppose; so there's no point for me to get angry over this."

Both Hope and Vanille stared at their leader with disbelief. She wasn't angry with them?_ What!_

"Just, I want to remind you," Her tone darkened, "With that," She pointed at his wrist, where his dangerously advancing brand was, and continued, "There isn't going to be a happily-ever-after."

He went stiff. Straight and to the point, that was how the leader had always been. He clenched his fists. _Would there even be an 'after' when all of this is over? _Hope wanted to question. He swallowed the urge and simply nodded his head in agreement, however, upon meeting those piercing azure eyes. "Yes, Light-san." The words didn't exactly project as clear as he thought. He took a chance to glance over at Vanille, who was now acting gloomy – it was probably because of Lightning's words. "Sorry…" The boy mumbled quietly.

"Head back to camp for now," The woman said, "And remember, our focus is our top priority."

Hope clenched his fists again, this time out of frustration. Simple as her words could be, he knew that if he disobeyed, he would have a tough time during the rest of the journey. Besides, it wasn't like she was wrong. Dealing with all this l'Cie nonsense _was _the most important thing right now. If they didn't… then not only himself, but Vanille would also…

_Sigh._

Finally, he bobbed his head and walked away at a steady pace. No way in hell was he going to say anything more. Farther and farther he went; the two watched in silence as his small figure disappeared amongst the trail.

"And you," Lightning suddenly shot.

Vanille squeaked.

"I understand that he's at that age, but you? I would think that even you would have boundaries, but… you're into younger men? By, like, what, five hundred years?" She walked closer to the girl who was still resting on the grass.

"I…!" She really wasn't helping. Sure, Hope was a nice and cute kid and everything, and (she had to admit) if it wasn't because of the age gap, she'd probably… just _maybe _become attracted to him. "… I'm still physically nineteen, onee-san! And no, I'm not into him!" _At least… not yet._

Lightning re-crossed her arms and sighed. "Then you better make it clear for him before this gets out of hand."

She wasn't even listening. Vanille was far too embarrassed; her mind all over the place – _she hadn't gotten confessions from guys since the days she lived in Oerba! Besides, she was never good at dealing with romance. _Shaking her head, she hugged her knees tight and mumbled into them, "Oh man, things are going to get so weird! What should I do…!"

Lightning narrowed her brows. This wasn't _that _complicated, really. "He's only a boy," She said simply, "Just tell him."

"It's _because _he's a boy – I…! Ugh, I… I don't want to break his heart…"

The leader shook her head in pity and knelt down in front of her. "So you're going to drag this on, and then you're going to tell him?' She smirked, "Hn, isn't that a brilliant plan? Let things get worse, _and then_ deal with them, as if we don't have enough things to worry about."

Her sarcasm only made Vanille pout. She glared at the older female for a second and then hid back in her knees. "Ohh… I'm so stupid…"

Pursing her lips, Lightning nodded her head. "Yeah, you are quite."

"Onee-san!" The girl scolded, this time glaring at her fully. "Don't make me feel worse."

A sound of amusement escaped her nose. "I'm sorry," Her apology sounded more like a tease, "But situations like this would only stress you out, and if you really do drag this on, it may even affect the entire group."

"I know, I know…" Vanille mumbled, looking thoughtfully ahead. Then, she started softly, "Do you have any suggestions?"

The woman hesitated for a moment by looking away, but when she caught a glimpse of those hopeful eyes (which were screaming for help), she softened up. They gave her this weird… sort of, nostalgic feeling.

If she had asked too hastily, Vanille was certain that she would have received a dangerous glare from her, but the slight change in Lightning's expression told her otherwise; it was safe to ask again. "Onee-san, help me!" This time, she whined childishly.

Lightning sat down completely onto the grass. She figured that since they had already set up camp nearby, they were probably not going to travel any further today. The remainder of the day was pretty much free-time. Making herself comfortable, she started, "Use the basics: tell him he's not your type."

Vanille hugged her knees tighter. "But… that's kind of… really mean…"

She rolled her eyes. "Tell him he's too young."

"That's kind of too straight forward, isn't it?"

"… Then tell him you're too old."

"Wha—onee-san!" Vanille's face puffed up. "Are you trying to be funny!"

"No…" The leader spoke quietly, as if unconfident with her own answers (which was extremely rare). "I'm just saying that you should be honest."

Huffing, Vanille groaned childishly. "You're no help at all!"

What familiar words. _Where had she heard this before?_ Lightning shrugged her shoulders, unbothered. "Maybe that's why nobody ever came to me for help."

_Pause._

Vanille felt a small chill pass by her heart.

The strawberry-blonde looked away. She didn't mean to be negative all of a sudden, it just happened… well, _naturally_.

"What about Serah? Ah—" Vanille asked, attempting to change the subject, but failed miserably at. _"Stupid, stupid, STUPID Vanille! Why did you say that!"_

Lightning merely smirked. "I said 'nobody'."

"… Okay." She nodded slowly.

The awkward silence made the ex-soldier speak up again. "I guess… maybe she did, as a kid, but I can't remember anymore. I don't think she's ever come to me for help after our parents died."

Vanille felt a sharp sting in her heart. She knew a bit of the Farrons' family background; having talked to Lightning so much, she could more or less fill in the holes with guesses. She knew the sisters had trouble communicating with each other, but she never knew – _thought – _that it was _this_ problematic. For them to not ask each other for help all this time, since their parents' death? How did they even live that way…? Undoubtedly, all these years, for both Lightning and Serah, were painful – perhaps even unbearable. Feeling the need to do this, she placed a palm on Lightning's gloved hand, "But, onee-san, if she asked, you would try to, right? Just like how you're trying to help me."

She clicked her tongue. "You just said that I wasn't helping."

"You were trying to," Vanille corrected. "Which is pretty considerate, coming from you."

"Really, Vanille. Considerate? Me?" Lightning snickered before glaring at the girl. She moved away from her touch and sat closer to the edge, hanging her legs over the cliff as she looked over the panoramic scene of Yaschas Massif. Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and went on, "If I really were considerate, none of this would have happened."

Vanille mirrored Lightning's actions. Scooting beside the woman, she, too, stared ahead the beautiful scenery. "Serah would still be by your side, and you would still be living in those peaceful days, right?"

She gave no response, but yeah, that was what she meant.

The girl tapped a finger against her chin. "Onee-san, have you ever thought about it this way? If none of this had happened, your opinion on Snow would never have changed. Wouldn't that just cause conflict between you two sisters?"

"We always had problems with each other," Lightning's tone became colder. "And it's not just because of that blonde idiot."

"But this serves as a huge lesson, right?"

Annoyed, the woman grunted. "Vanille, we're in the middle of nowhere, we don't know what to do next, and we don't know what's going to happen. How is this any form of a lesson?"

The girl simply smiled. "You shouldn't be so negative all the time. It's _because_ we don't know what's going to happen," She said quietly, "That's why you cherish the happier memories."

"…"

The redhead went on, grinning. "I'm sure Serah feels the same way."

Again, Lightning gave no response. Instead, she waited and let a soft breeze go by, watching as the tall skyscraper-like plants swayed gently with the wind. There was so much she didn't understand about this Oerban, and she was positive that this Oerban, too, did not understand her.

_She was positive._

'_Was'._

… Wrong. She, Lightning Farron, was wrong. Vanille was a dangerous character; she hid amidst her cheerful side by day, always assured everyone to think in the most positive way, to be happy, and to face everything with optimism; yet by night, she struggles with her haunting fears and inner demons. The girl didn't know it, but the entire group knew that she cried at night. Hell, even Snow knew. Everyone had tried to talk to her about _whatever _that bothered her during her sleep, but Vanille always brushed them off, claiming that they were merely 'bad dreams'. It was almost painful to watch this… actress. She was able to help so many with her charisma, yet nobody could her.

"Do you?" Lightning suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

Why was she prolonging the conversation? It wasn't like her to do this. "What you said about Serah – do you feel the same way?" The woman questioned, letting her curiosity go out of control for once.

Vanille pursed her lips, her expression thoughtful. "I'd be lying if I said no, but… I'm quite happy the way I am right now."

What a weird answer, Lightning thought. "You mean, being _this _close to death, you're fine with it?"

The girl laughed. "Oh, I said stop being so negative, onee-san!"

_Again with the cheerfulness_. She shook her head, confused. "I don't understand you,"

"Are you trying to?"

"No," Lightning didn't' answer right away, "I'm not."

Vanille looked to her. "Liar."

She intended to glare, but when she caught sight of that weak smile, the ex-soldier could only avert her gaze. Yes, it was indeed painful to watch this _actress_. It made her feel pathetic. "Fine," She admitted defeat, "I'm not _trying_ to, I just _want_ to."

Vanille blinked. Somewhat surprised, she sat up straight. "Really? Onee-san wants to understand me? Why?"

Lightning mumbled, "You get annoying at night." It wasn't entirely a lie. "Because of you, I have trouble sleeping."

"…" The younger girl _so obviously _faked a giggle. "Oh, I apologize for that. Can't really help it if I get bad dreams, y'know?"

Lightning looked to her. "Liar."

She felt herself twitch. "Am I?" Vanille managed to giggle again. "Hmm… if I described to you how my bad dreams are like, then would you believe me?"

"I'm listening."

Legs still hanging off the edge of the cliff, the redhead lied down onto the grass. "Haah…" She let out a long breath, clasped her hands on her stomach, and stared up at the azure sky; completely letting her senses reach the life of Gran Pulse that surrounded her. "When I sleep…"

Her irises glued to the corner of her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at Vanille.

"… Onee-san, it isn't really interesting…"

"Try me." Lightning challenged.

She sighed. "Fine… but don't tell anyone, okay? It's kind of dumb…"

"Just. Go."

Getting scared of the woman's impatience, Vanille closed her eyes and finally started, "They're… not nightmares."

Lightning lifted a brow.

The redhead smiled. "I know what you all think; that I have nightmares at night, and they make me cry, right? Well, they're not. It's just that I have trouble sleeping, so I usually think about stuff when I close my eyes – mostly about the past, when I used to hang out with my friends and Fang, the present, where I'm with you guys… and… well, when I think about the future—"

"—You get scared, and you try to think of happier memories, so that you can cover up the pain." She didn't know why, but she spoke out and finished for her. "Lying to yourself is how you get through everything."

Vanille chuckled, "Gee, onee-san, I didn't even imagine that you would remember all that nonsense." She could recall that they had this silly conversation when they were separated from the group, thanks to Fang's _not-so-professional _steering of the fierce Bahamut.

"So, all this time, when you're crying at night – you're actually awake?"

"Hehe," She stuck out her tongue playfully, "Sorry, I'll try to keep quiet from now on."

Lightning shook her head. "Why don't you talk to someone about it?"

"Talk? With who?"

Shrugging her shoulders, the leader suggested, "I don't know – Fang, maybe? Or Sazh? You guys are close, aren't you?"

The girl laughed. "Haha! Onee-san, they snore like pigs when they're asleep! I wouldn't want to disturb their beauty sleep!"

"…"

Her laughter dying down all of a sudden, "And…" Her voice turned solemn, "… I don't want them to worry. For Fang, especially… she's already done so much. Sazh, Snow, and—" She swallowed, "… a-and Hope too, I don't want to trouble them. We already have so much to deal with."

Lightning huffed. "Huh," And didn't say anything more.

A moment passed by, but neither knew exactly how long it was. It felt like a good hour or so, but it was probably only a few minutes. And in these few minutes, Vanille realized just how tired she was. Not just of this aimless quest, but just physically, she was exhausted. She could easily fall asleep right now, thanks to this serene environment, though she didn't want to ignore the woman's presence. After all, how often did one get the opportunity to talk to Lightning privately? Or, just simply, get to sit with her like this, without having to discuss any battle strategies and such—

"I sleep late."

"Eh?" Vanille's eyes opened in a flash when she heard Lightning's voice. Still lying down, she looked to the woman, whose back was facing her. "Sorry, onee-san, did you say something?"

Lightning turned her head, enough so that Vanille could see the side of her face. To be honest, the woman didn't really know what she was doing, nor did she understand why. All she knew was that she wanted to help. Be it her insecurities, doubts, or insomnia…whatever; Lightning just wanted to help this… _pathetic_ child. She felt like she _owed _her. "If you stay on guard with me," She said, "You can bore yourself to sleep – don't need to think about the unnecessary."

"…"

Vanille probably didn't get her intentions, but what was wrong with an offer? It wouldn't kill. She continued, almost whispering now, "So don't think about it anymore, okay?"

The girl stared at her leader, half in bewilderment and half in disbelief – more so the former, of course. She needed a moment to absorb everything in, but it was easier than she thought. And when she did, the usual smile spread across her cheeks, then came along those usual, bright, dazzling green eyes. Finally, she nodded her head, responding to Lightning's offer. "Un! I'll go to you every night if I have to, onee-san!"

Lightning returned the nod, and Vanille could swear – the woman was freaking smiling.

But it wasn't that big of a deal to miss one or two smiles; one day, one of these nights, she would _for sure _make her smile properly. Vanille chuckled at the thought, her mind processing plans and ways to make her goal achievable, no matter the absurdity. Her eyes lingered on the ex-soldier's gentle, feminine face. Yes, Lightning was mostly intimidating and scary at times, but if it wasn't because of these traits, why would the group see her as a leader? Why would they follow her instructions, and not so much of Sazh's, the oldest one? Why bother to respect such a cold and rude woman? It was all very simple – everyone, including herself, saw Lightning Farron as an older sister figure. Sure, she was scary and cold and _a bitch_ at times to them, but that was only because she cared. If she didn't, she would have run off by herself long ago. Yet, here she was, talking to a nobody – talking to _her._

"So,"

Her voice broke Vanille's train of thoughts.

"About Hope," Lightning said, "How are you going to deal with him again?"

The girl blinked – she went stiff for a second, until she realized what the strawberry-blonde was talking about. "I…!" Sitting up straight, she slapped her palms onto her cheeks that were growing increasingly warm. "I almost forgot about that!"

The ex-soldier rolled her eyes. "Figures."

"Okay, okay! No more teasing! Onee-san, you've GOT to help me! I honestly have no idea what to do!"

Lightning breathed out heavily. Her eyes boring into the younger girl's emerald ones, she bit at the insides of her mouth, still trying to figure out _why _she was so willing to help someone she didn't know.

Vanille's inner brows arched upwards – an upset and hopeful look. "Help me, onee-san!"

She blinked. This nostalgic feeling – Lightning could swear, she had experienced something similar to this somewhere before—

"_Onee-chan!"_

Oh?

"_Onee-chan, help me!"_

What—

_Serah. An eight-year-old Serah. She was grasping onto a white envelope with one hand, and tugging at the end of her shirt with another. "Help me, onee-chan!"_

Why, of course.

She smiled. She could remember she was smiling. _"What is it?"_

_The younger strawberry-blonde never looked so troubled before. Her cheeks were flushed crimson and she was chewing nervously at her lower lip. "I-I got this…" The girl held up the white envelope with her head down. "… I… don't know what to do…"_

Lightning recalled that she was eleven at that time. _"Let me see that…" _She took it from her younger sister's hands. _"A love letter?" _

_Serah nodded, still unwilling to look up. "W-what should I do…? Onee-chan, I-I don't know—"_

It was so weird. She could see everything so clearly – it was almost as if she was present in this time. Eagerly, she ripped off the seal of the envelope and took out the piece of paper it held inside. Despite Serah's attempts to get the letter back, she started to read out loud. _"Dear Serah, you are like a star that hangs brightly above the skies. You are the one and only that warms—" _The older sibling paused to giggle, _"—w-warms my soul. I am the happiest w-when I'm around y-you. My pri… my p-princess— oh my goodness, I c-can't…!" _She finally burst into laughter_, "I can't read this anymore! This is so gross!" _

_The eight-year-old Serah's cheeks puffed up. Poor girl was about to cry. "Onee-chan!' She yanked the letter out of her sister's hands forcefully and huffed. "You're no help at all!"_

No help…?

"… Onee-san?"

Lightning jerked her head up. Her vision of whatever that had just happened dispersed, and she was looking at the scenery of Yaschas Massif again. She blinked several times before turning to the redhead beside her.

"Are you okay?"

She blinked again.

"_You're no help at all!"_

…

… Oh. No wonder it sounded so familiar.

Vanille waved a hand in front of the ex-soldier's face. "Um… you _are_ back, right? You spaced out for a good minute or so!" She said, clearly amused. "It was kinda cute!"

"Really." Lightning answered with sarcasm.

"Yes, really!" Vanille said with her gleeful tone.

"Hn." The ex-soldier smirked and stood up, eyes never off the girl's. "Let's go back."

"Eh – what! What about Hope—" She crawled away from the cliff before attempting to stand up on one foot. She had not forgotten that an ankle was sprained, thanks to all the ruckus that had happened earlier. "I s-still don't know how to deal with him—"

Lightning didn't turn to face her. "Just forget about it. Tell him that you're fine with being in a love triangle. He'd be so embarrassed when he hears that, he'll never mention romance to you again, _ever_." She was holding onto her hips as she said that.

Vanille tilted her head, confused. "Love… triangle?" Her mouth hung open stupidly. "You're… onee-san… you're in love with me?"

Hearing that, the ex-soldier's head slowly (as in _really, really _slowly) rotated to face the redhead, with her body mirroring the action when she could no longer turn. Her eyes in the form of straight, thin lines, it looked like she had them sealed shut as she stared at the idiot girl with an expression that cannot be defined by words alone.

Seeing her reaction, Vanille realized that she had said something wrong again. "Hehe…" She scratched her cheek with a finger nervously. "Guess not…" _But, seriously, what did her leader mean by 'love triangle'? _

"Vanille," Lightning called suddenly, in a very womanly, mature, and guardian-like manner.

"Yes…?"

"You're a grownup now, you can't always rely on other people – especially when it comes to things that relate to yourself."

She felt as if she was being lectured by – appropriately speaking – an _elder sister_. And that was why she didn't dare to disturb her.

Oh, how she wished she could turn back time, so that she could lecture Serah this way, even though the bright girl never needed them. How she wished she could have talked to Serah like an elder sister, and not like a complete stranger for the past seven years. How she wished she could have… _behaved_ like a sister. Head down, hands clenched behind herself – Vanille's posture right now resembled so much of that eight-year-old Serah she just saw earlier… the eight-year-old Serah who asked for help, who asked for advice on romance… the eight-year-old Serah whom she _couldn't _help – Lightning could do it all right now, all over again. The choice was hers.

"_Onee-san, you're no help at all!"_

_The choice was hers.  
_

She pointed at her sprained ankle, immediately continuing the subject. "He did that to you, didn't he?" She waited for Vanille to nod, "Then make him fix it."

"Wha… what?" She squeaked.

"Make him heal it."

"B-but… I can heal it myself…"

"No, that's not the point," The woman said calmly. "When he's healing you, you'll have the chance to talk to him in private. From there, use the opportunity to tell him how you feel."

Vanille stared blankly at the taller female, taking her words into mind. "How I feel…" She repeated quietly.

_You're a grownup now, you can't always rely on other people._

Then, out of the blue, her eyes sharpened. "Un," She nodded.

_Especially when the things relate to yourself. _

"I understand, onee-san." She finished with a smile.

And Lightning smiled back warmly, to which the girl reacted (expectedly) by grinning. The two remained that way for a span of a few seconds; it was short, but Vanille hadn't felt happier since she reunited with Fang.

"With that problem aside," The redhead broke the warm silence, "If I have to wait for Hope to heal me, then how do I get back to camp?"

Lightning's smile turned into a smirk. "Limp."

Vanille glared at the ex-soldier. "You're joking me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm actually not." She took a few steps ahead, toward the opposite side from the cliff. "Come on, now."

"Hey! Wait, onee-san! I can't—aaaah!"

The strawberry-blonde turned around, and wasn't surprised to see a redhead who had toppled over her own foot. She already expected this to happen, but still, she had to sigh. Making her way back to the Oerban, she knelt down in front of her. "Are you naturally clumsy, or do you just do it to act cute?"

"What…! Act cute?" Vanille winced in pain. "Onee-san, I have a sprained ankle! What do you expect! For me to run a hundred metres in eight seconds?"

"No, but at least behave more elegantly once in a while."

"I don't think there's anything elegant about a sprained ankle…"

Lightning shrugged her shoulders. "Hn. Well, we still have to get back, and Fang would complain like a little girl to me if I don't take you back in your current condition."

Vanille giggled. "Concerned? That's not like you, onee-san. Maybe you should piggy-back poor little Vanille back to camp?" She teased.

Her blue eyes shot up to glare, but the girl wasn't frightened by it – she simply continued to giggle. "Fine," Lightning mumbled.

"… Hm?"

For the third time of the day, the woman turned her back against Vanille. "I don't want to watch you hopscotch back. Besides, this _is _way faster."

The young Oerban stared at the ex-soldier's back, surprised. She hesitated for a moment, but fearing for an impending impatient scolding from the woman, she quickly got on. Strapping her arms gently around Lightning, she felt the latter's arms looped at her legs as she stood up. Before long, they were already walking at quite a pace. "Ne, onee-san," Vanille called.

"What?"

Hearing her immediate response, she smiled, even though Lightning couldn't see. She looked up to the sky – its colour as pure and innocent as her leader's eyes. "Thank you."

Lightning was about to say 'don't mention it', but she could only smile – and she only did it because Vanille couldn't see.

Vanille looked down at the back of the strawberry-blonde's head and came closed the distance between herself and her leader, literally hugging the latter in a child-like fashion from behind now. "If I ever run into any problems with romance in the future… well, I'd know where to go to for help."

"I'd probably just give you the same advice – tell them you're too old."

"Wha—hey!" The girl pulled back and slapped her on the shoulder lightly.

Lightning snickered. "Or tell them that they're not young enough because you prefer kids who are five hundred years younger."

A hint of redness crept up her neck to her cheek. "Onee-san! I told you I'm still physically nineteen! Stop making fun of my age!"

* * *

_**Sorry for being MIA… I didn't know being an exchange student in my home country would be this tedious :S**_

_**Anyway, did I surprise you with the sudden update of this long-lost fic? I feel that the last 30% of this chapter was kinda rushed. What do you think? Hope you enjoyed anyhow. BTW, I only updated this because I'm slowly… slowly… slowly starting to ship H/V (thanks to the incredible fics of them out there)**__**…**_  


_**BUT OF COURSE L/V for life, and OF COURSE I'm going to finish "Starless" and "Empathy". Don't worry about it! :)**_


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